Stephen Donnelly says it is 'easy' to criticise covid response 'in hindsight' 

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly: 'I think it is very easy for people who were involved to come out afterwards and say you know we should have done things differently.'

Health minister Stephen Donnelly has insisted people in Nphet could have raised concerns during the pandemic if they felt decisions were not right, saying it is “easy” for people to make criticisms now.

The minister was reacting to comments by former Nphet member Professor Martin Cormican in a paper published for the Irish Society of Clinical Microbiologists before Christmas but only widely discussed in recent days.

Among other comments, Prof Cormican said: “We depended too much on fear to influence behaviour. We did enduring damage to the environment through use of testing and PPE in the absence of evidence or sound rationale for proportionate benefit.

“We have undermined many of the foundations of rational infection prevention and control and have a long road back.” 

Speaking on Monday at Tallaght University Hospital, Mr Donnelly said: “I think it is very easy for people who were involved to come out afterwards and say you know we should have done things differently, I’ve heard some of the remarks.” 

He added: “Professor Cormican is obviously entitled to his view, but I think the appropriate place for that is in a structured look-back, which is what the Government is looking at putting in place.” 

He said as a Nphet member and senior HSE clinician, Prof Cormican had a platform for any views he wished to share.

“He was fully empowered to make any points he wanted in Nphet. He was fully empowered to contact me at any time had he wanted to, and obviously, he had a lead role in terms of infection prevention and control within the HSE,” the minister said.

“Inevitably people will look back and say maybe this should have happened differently, that should have happened differently, probably the way to do that is through a structured look-back which is what they are looking at putting in place.” 

Mr Donnelly, who visited the endometriosis clinic at the hospital, said the environment and context now is quite different to the situation facing decision-makers in early 2020.

“I think it’s quite easy to make comments like that now,” he said.

In his paper, Prof Cormican disputed the reliance on masks, having made clear during the pandemic he was reluctant about masking, particularly in schools.

“There is an uncomfortable feeling that mask use in schools, like so much else that deprived children of their education and childhood, was done to placate powerful interest groups at the expense of the children’s fundamental rights,” he wrote in the paper.

Mr Donnelly said Prof Cormican could have contacted him at any time to raise issues, as well as raising them within Nphet.

“At the time there was, by definition, almost nothing known in terms of long-term impacts [of covid],” he said.

“I think it is easy to look back and say in hindsight, we might have done this differently or that differently.” 

He said the key point now is what can be learned to prepare for another potential pandemic.

“The question for us must be, are we putting in place all of the changes and additional capacity, and additional processes, are we putting that in place now to be as well prepared as we can for the future,” he said.