Sinn Féin moves first to nominate Covid-19 committee chairperson

Sinn Féin is the only party so far to have nominated a candidate to chair the new Oireachtas Covid-19 committee.

Electing a chairperson will be the first act of the new 19-member committee, which has been established to scrutinise and review all the actions taken by Government, State agencies and other authorities in relation to the coronavirus pandemic.

Horse-trading on the selection of a new chairperson is expected to intensify over the next 24 hours in advance of the first meeting of the committee on Tuesday.

Sinn Féin has nominated Waterford TD David Cullinane to be chairman and the party is understood to have begun contacting other parties and Independents to seek their support.

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Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have not yet taken any formal decisions about nominations, and it remains to be seen if the parties will agree a candidate.

Most parties agree the role of chairperson should be chosen by consensus and that a row over the position would be a bad start to its work.

There is some speculation that Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall, who had chaired the Sláintecare committee, could be a consensus candidate.

One source speculated that whether the Green Party supported Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil or opted for left-leaning Opposition parties would be a key factor, as would the split between the smaller left parties and Independents.

‘Pent-up words’

Members expect that the committee will be as significant as the Public Accounts Committee and that on that basis it should be chaired by an Opposition TD.

One committee member said, “We’re going to need a very good chair who can keep a tight rein” because there are very few opportunities for politicians to speak and properly raise issues.

“When it comes to this committee, you’re going to have an awful lot of people with a lot of pent-up words that they need to get out into the world.”

Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin each have four members on the committee, while the Green Party, Labour, Social Democrats, Solidarity People Before Profit, and the three Independents groups – known as the Independents group, Rural Independents and Regional Independents – will each have one member.

The committee is expected to operate along the lines of the committee formed on the Eighth Amendment, with parties offered slots of 10 minutes to speak and ask questions.

Minister for Health Simon Harris and Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan are expected to be among the first witnesses to be invited before the committee, which will also decide on a programme of work on Tuesday.

On the agenda

It will look at mental health, the outbreaks in care settings and how they were handled, and a comparison between private and public nursing homes. The use of private hospitals, the pandemic payment and a range of other issues will be considered, including preparations in the event of a second surge of infections.

As the Covid-19 committee will be the only committee in operation and will deal with all coronavirus issues, it is expected to consider the impact on all departments.

Sinn Féin’s members are Matt Carthy, David Cullinane, Pearse Doherty and Louise O’Reilly.

Fine Gael’s members are Colm Brophy, Colm Burke, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Fergus O’Dowd.

Fianna Fáil is represented by Mary Butler, Stephen Donnelly, Norma Foley and John McGuinness.

Ossian Smyth (Greens), Róisín Shortall (Social Democrats), Bríd Smith (Solidarity-People Before Profit) Duncan Smith (Labour), Michael Collins (Rural Independent Group), Michael McNamara (Independent Group) and Matt Shanahan (Regional Independent Group) are also on the committee.