Letter to the Editor: Ireland should seek Covid advice from Taiwan

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly tweeted he had spoken to the Danish health minister. 

As Ireland continues to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, one wonders how relentlessly the Government is pursuing all possible sources of information to help manage the situation. On September 9, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly tweeted that he had spoken with the Danish health minister about Denmark’s experience of the pandemic. At the time of writing, Denmark has a total of 20,323 cases and 631 deaths (out of a population of 5.8m people). While the Danes have done better than Ireland, the difference is not enormous, and like Ireland, it pales in comparison with the island nation of Taiwan.

Taiwan has a total of 498 cases and 7 deaths (out of a population of 23.8m) and internally, the country is open for business. The country’s president, vice president, and digital minister are recently among the top 25 people in the world to be recognised by WIRED magazine as those who are making a difference and “standing between us and species collapse”.

Why then is the Government not actively talking with the Taiwanese government to learn from its experience ?

As reported by this paper in October 2018, Ceann Comhairle Sean O’Fearghail had previously written to TDs to warn them that engagement with Taiwan “has the potential to cause serious damage to Ireland’s developing relationship with China as well as being a danger to Ireland’s national interest”. The statement was later branded as a “bizarre political act” by a member of his own party.

Is failure to engage with Taiwan on Covid-19 another case of protecting Ireland’s “national interest” ?

Surely, there is nothing more important than the health and welfare of the Irish people when it comes to our national interest.

Neil O’Sullivan

San Francisco