Elaine Loughlin: What is Nphet's legacy?

After governing under its security blanket, which imposed some of the most severe restrictions on our liberty since the foundation of the State, the coalition will now have to start making its own decisions

The pandemic created household names out of scientists and doctors including Dr Tony Holohan, the chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer, Rachel Kenna, chief nursing officer, and Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group.

The winding-up of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will be viewed as one of the most significant moments on the slow road out of the pandemic.

Over the past two years, the relationship between the Government and this group of previously anonymous experts has been, at times, fraught, tense, and on the verge of collapse. 

However, the advice of Nphet, for the most part, has been accepted without question by our political leaders.

After governing under the security blanket of this group, which recommended some of the most severe restrictions on our liberty since the foundation of the State, the coalition will now have to start making its own decisions.

While the advice of experts was essential in responding to a rapidly evolving situation, which at times required immediate actions, it has been suggested that the Government has been over-reliant on Nphet.

Almost overnight, the members of Nphet went from unknowns to leading stars in the Covid saga, they wielded decision-making power over everything from pub closures to making tough calls on who would be prioritised if our hospitals became overwhelmed.

The pandemic created household names out of scientists and doctors, particulary Tony Holohan, Ronan Glynn, Colm Henry and Cillian de Gascun.

The chief medical officer was even immortalised in a mural on the wall of a Dublin pub, breaking out of his shirt to reveal his Superman costume underneath. 

But as Covid lingered and public patience waned, Dr Holohan and his Nphet team became villainised as the constant bearers of bad news.

Throughout the pandemic, this country took a cautious approach, retaining many restrictions when our European counterparts reopened and learned to live with the virus.

Some will argue the restrictions imposed, while difficult to accept, were right. 

The latest Eurostat figures show excess deaths due to Covid in Ireland were the second-lowest in the EU.

As the new and terrifying virus reached our shores in early 2020, the public and politicians accepted the advice of Nphet without question.

We watched the updates each evening from our sitting rooms, not daring to go beyond our 2km, replacing visits to grandparents with family Zoom quizzes, keeping our distance, staying away even while grieving.

When the Government strayed from the guidance in late 2020 in a bid to give the country a 'meaningful Christmas', cases spiralled and the most deadly wave of the virus struck.

Ministers reverted back to accepting Nphet's advice which resulted in restrictions remaining in place last summer when many other countries opened up.

The pandemic has conditioned us to be hyper-cautious, and so any lifting of restrictions — be it the reopening of hospitality, the scrapping of mandatory facemasks in schools or the winding up of Nphet — will be met by a mixture of relief and anxiety.

Just like social distancing and hand washing, Nphet has been a constant over the past two years, only time will tell if we were right to give the group so much power.