Irish Examiner view: Shoes trip-up reveals lack of planning

A review of ‘non-essential’ retail would not take place until May, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said in the morning. By lunchtime, that had changed. Then the Taoiseach gave yet another version

Taoiseach Micheál Martin clarified that shoe shops would be open but by appointment only. New guidelines would follow shortly. Picture: Denis Minihane.

When is a shoe a flipflop? We might ask that question following the Government’s, shall we say, evolving policy on children's shoes over the course of a few hours yesterday. In the morning, children’s shoes were not essential items. By lunchtime, children’s shoe shops were to open and, an hour later, they were shut down again.

The upshot, however, was Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s welcome announcement in the Dáil yesterday afternoon that he was drawing up guidelines to allow shoe shops to open on an appointment basis so that children could be fitted for shoes. But how late it is.

For weeks, the anomaly was clear. 

Under level 5 restrictions, you could make an appointment to have your dog’s toenails clipped, but you could not make an appointment to have your child’s feet measured for correctly fitting shoes.

The effect on children’s health was spelled out in shocking detail by Dr Niamh Ní Loinsigh, a consultant paediatrician at the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork. She has seen children develop skin infections and others hospitalised with cellulitis because they were wearing shoes that did not fit.

Up to yesterday morning, there was no plan to change the Government view that children’s shoes could be bought online. A review of ‘non-essential’ retail would not take place until May, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said on national radio yesterday morning. By lunchtime, that had changed. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the issue needed immediate action and shoe shops would reopen.

Shortly afterwards, the Taoiseach gave yet another version, clarifying that shoe shops would be open but by appointment only. New guidelines would follow shortly.

While that’s a welcome flipflop, it reveals a lack of planning and a failure in Government to grasp the ongoing impact on ordinary people of some of the harshest Covid-19 restrictions in Europe.

While the phased easing of restrictions agreed by Cabinet is a bright spot on the horizon, there is still a need to address other unfair measures. The public’s willingness to hold firm for these last difficult months depends upon it.

How can you justify a return to GAA training, for example, yet deprive a pregnant woman the support of her partner at hospital check-ups? 

If you can go to a zoo, or play golf, surely it is possible to arrange Covid-compliant appointments so that women do not have to face medical appointments alone.

For more than a year, we have heard the significant difficulties experienced by mothers before, during, and after giving birth because of restrictions that the Association for the Improvements in the Maternity Services Ireland says are often not even warranted.

While the gradual easing of restrictions is good news, there are many sectors of society — not least pregnant women — who would welcome a more detailed and considered roadmap.

There are significant challenges ahead. A change to the vaccination administration plan highlights the crux of the issue: Vaccines are in short supply and the rollout is too slow. There can be no lasting progress until that issue resolves. In the meantime, listening to the concerns of pregnant women and their partners will help us to stay the course.