Daniel McConnell: Extraordinary day ends in Leo Varadkar's angry attack on Dr Holohan

Dr Holohan and Nphet came under heavy criticism from the Tánaiste. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s angry attack on the Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan and the National Public Health Emergency Team was an extraordinary development after 24 hours of utter chaos.

In truth, he didn’t just throw Dr Holohan under the bus, he reversed the bus over him again and again.

Appearing on Claire Byrne Live on RTÉ television moments after Taoiseach Micheál Martin gave his state of the nation address, Mr Varadkar gave Dr Holohan and Nphet both barrels.

A visibly frustrated and agitated Tánaiste said the manner and the scale of their recommendation to move the country to Level 5 or total lockdown “was not thought through” and “should not have happened”.

Mr Varadkar hit out at Dr Holohan’s failure to give the Government any prior notice or to hold any prior consultation which amounted to them "landing this on us as a surprise" which he said was unacceptable.

While he accepted that such tensions have existed between government and Nphet before, never have they surfaced in such a visceral and public manner.

In truth, Varadkar’s outburst gave voice to the scale of the anger within government at the decision of Nphet to spring the Level 5 surprise on them in such a ham fisted manner.

Mr Varadkar said those frustrations around the lack of consultation were expressed to Dr Holohan during their two-hour meeting earlier and said “he accepted them”.

“This will not happen again,” Mr Varadkar said curtly.

Government rejection

Within minutes of the Nphet recommendation emerged on Sunday night, Government sources were making it clear it would not be accepted.

Sources told me that government was worried about the economic and societal impact of such a drastic move to level 5.

But in its letter to health minister Stephen Donnelly, Nphet stated that moving to Level 5 restrictions is the “only opportunity” to get Covid “back under control” and keep schools open.

Nphet warned of a “significant and deteriorating” epidemiological situation.

It recommended that Level 5 measures be introduced from midnight on Monday for four weeks. It says NPHET is sensitive to the impact on businesses, individuals and families but that the action is “the only opportunity to get this disease back under control while keeping schools open”.

It says a graduated approach “will not have sufficient or timely impact on the trajectory and scale of the disease”, and would ultimately result in Level 5 measures being put in place, whereas an immediate enactment of the harshest measures will prevent deaths, protect vulnerable people and enable schools to remain open.

Responding to those concerns, Varadkar said it is the duty of Nphet to concentrate on the public health aspect of dealing with the virus but the government’s approach can’t be “public health only”.

Explaining the Government’s decision to reject the Nphet advice, Mr Martin said: “Businesses are beginning to recover and vital public health services are still backlogged. 

Severe restrictions now would have a very damaging impact, which those services and businesses may not be able to recover from. 

"That said, the government has decided to increase the level of controls in most of the country and to step up efforts to ensure compliance with guidelines.

“We have decided at this stage, not to move to a more comprehensive lockdown. It's important to understand that the potential implications of such a move are severe and very different from those we faced earlier this year. 

"It could involve the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs with these concentrated and families and communities, which are already experiencing difficulties,” he said.

“And an immediate comprehensive lockdown would make it much harder to deal with non-Covid health concerns, including the impact of isolation on the mental health of many of our people,” he added.

When this is all over, someone will be wrong – either Micheál Martin or Tony Holohan.

After 100 days in office, by departing from the Nphet advice the Taoiseach has taken the biggest gamble of his tenure and it is without question a career defining decision.