Elaine Loughlin: Do as we say, not as we do reigns in Dáil

One member of the committee remarked that while there has been some resistance to the decision to move across the River Liffey to the Convention Centre, no one raised concerns about social distancing measures, mask wearing or the requirement to clean down seats and other areas after use.

It was while rummaging through a rail of tops with one hand, phone pressed against my ear with the other, that the sales assistant tentatively approached.

“I’m really sorry, but masks are mandatory in the store,” he said from as far back as he possibly could get without going out of earshot.

Engrossed in conversation with a friend in Australia, who I have not seen in three years, I walked into the store forgetting about the global pandemic and all the new rules we have come to adopt.

To say I was mortified was an understatement.

I immediately apologised, quickly put on a mask and apologised again. I was just relieved I had the facial cover to hide my reddening cheeks.

So great was my mortification that I made a point of again explaining myself to a different member of staff when I got to the tills.

She brushed it aside, but undoubtedly she knew the scenario could have played out very differently and an alternative ending must have been going through the mind of the shop worker when he initially interrupted this (accidentally) unmasked shopper.

Inadvertent slippage is one thing, blatant disregard is another.

You can be anti-lockdown, anti-mask or anti-vax, but no one has the right to intimidate colleagues or put the health of others at risk.

The disrespect and utter contempt shown by some of our national politicians to Covid compliance officers in Leinster House and the Convention Centre must be called out.

It is also unacceptable that these people — we can only hope that it is a limited number of TDs and senators — have been protected as their names were redacted in the reams of documents received by journalist Ken Foxe under Freedom of Information.

The FOI documents reveal details of politicians and staff becoming “defiant or abusive” when they were asked to adhere to social distancing and other Covid measures. Compliance officers also wrote of being subjected to “abuse and hostility”.

One staff member who was stationed at the escalators leading to the temporary Dáil chamber in the Convention Centre had to remind TDs to keep two metres apart.

“All were very compliant except [redacted] who said: ‘Sure, what difference does it make? We haven’t got it’, and then: ‘We’ve all had it at this stage. It’s been here since Christmas’.”

The episode was among 20 separate public health issues logged by one member of the Covid compliance team over the course of just five hours at the Convention Centre.

Another complaint, which was among the documents released and published by Foxe this week, stated: “There is a cohort of Members (TDs or Senators) in particular who simply do not care what we say to them with regard to physical distancing, or how often we say it to them. That is the reality. One in particular was rude and insulting to a member of the team.”

There was widespread acceptance of the rules when the Business Committee, which includes representatives from all parties and none, decided that masks should be worn.

Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl: "It is in all of our interests that we adopt a consistent and safe approach to working together during this pandemic."

One member of the committee remarked that while there has been some resistance to the decision to move across the River Liffey to the Convention Centre, no one raised concerns about social distancing measures, mask wearing or the requirement to clean down seats and other areas after use.

Issuing a letter to all politicians in July of last year, Ceann Comhairle Sean Ó Fearghaíl wrote: “Leinster House is a shared workplace for an entire parliamentary community of members, civil service and political staff, contractors and media, it is in all of our interests that we adopt a consistent and safe approach to working together during this pandemic.

“The wearing of a face covering can play an important part in indoor settings where it is not always possible to adhere to two-metre distancing,” he told his colleagues.

Of particular concern is the account of one Oireachtas staff member who had to change the route they walk to their office because a TD on the same floor never wore a mask.

The person explained that they share a corridor with the particular politician, whose name was blanked out, “who doesn’t wear a mask when moving through our corridor”, while this was “obviously concerning” the staff member said they were “able to mitigate this by avoiding walking directly past his office” and taking “a long way around” to their office.

The person, however, was unable to avoid the unmasked politician in the bathrooms and said it was “a source of considerable anxiety in my workplace that I am not able to avoid a person who is not complying with the requirements”.

It is especially difficult when the individual is an elected member of the Dáil and the prospect of confronting him regarding his non-compliance is an intimidating one.

Then there was the separate concern raised about what we can only assume is one particular political party or technical group, which the complainant said “need to be looked at”.

The report, lodged just days before the country went into level 5 restrictions last October, stated: “Any time I have passed through their area... there seems to be several persons in the offices, close together and no sign of screens, masks or distancing.”

Foxe, who is involved with the Right to Know organisation, which focuses on campaigning for access information in the pursuit of greater accountability and transparency, is now challenging the decision to redact the identities of those who were reported for being in breach of Covid guidelines in our national parliament buildings.

The ushers, cleaners, canteen staff and other Leinster House workers are the background team who keep our Dáil and Seanad running.

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They couldn’t retreat to the safety of their homes when the pandemic first hit in March 2020. When we again went into level 5 lockdown at the start of this year they, like our other frontline workers, continued to show up.

They have families at home, some care for elderly parents who have cocooned for much of the past 18 months, others have young children with health conditions, but they have turned up to work.

And yet some of our publicly elected representatives don’t think it is appropriate to treat them with a basic level of respect.

It raises a wider question. If our legislators cannot stick to the rules they themselves have created and have asked us all to stick by, how will other workplaces manage when the majority of people return in the coming weeks and months?

Or maybe some of our lawmakers are simply a law unto themselves.