Sir, – There seems to be a prevailing tone among many people that we need to tiptoe around what happened during the Covid pandemic.
We had children and young adults whose education was severely curtailed, with life-long consequences.
We had people with missed diagnoses which will shorten their lives.
We had people whose livelihoods were crushed.
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We had people whose mental health was hammered.
All because of Government decisions based on Nphet’s advice.
All these people deserve a lot more than a softly-softly approach. – Yours, etc,
PAUL WILLIAMS,
Kilkee,
Co Clare.
A chara, – There seems to be a perception that there is a clamour for people to be “blamed” for “mistakes”.
It is all very emotive language, but I suggest that taxpayers would simply like some accountability applied to highly paid public servants.
We all accept we were dealing with the unknown in March 2020. But we were dealing with the known in March 2021. We had a year’s experience of the virus at that stage. Our schools were closed in March 2021. We were a massive outlier in European terms in 2021 and beyond. The later decisions made need to be reviewed through a different lens.
I do not know why “revisionism” needs to be avoided. Revisionism in the sense that it is a process involving the revision of attitudes to a previously accepted situation is exactly what we need.
Finally, I find it ironic that in respect of the proposed review that our Department of Health is “examining the experience of, and learnings from, work of this nature that has been undertaken internationally”. Some would say it was a pity they didn’t look to international best practice during the pandemic. We opted for one of Europe’s longest and hardest lockdowns. We apparently knew better. Perhaps this kind of attitude might be reviewed as well. – Yours, etc,
REAMONN O’LUAN,
Churchtown,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – We are now entering a period where actions during the pandemic will come under scrutiny.
Given the immense influence media outlets yielded, can we anticipate a similar review process of your actions? – Yours, etc,
MAGS KELLY,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.