Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has expressed his “disappointment” and “discomfort” with the way in which members of the public have been critical of NPHET online.
When they say they’re “all in this together,” they aren’t joking.
Speaking in the Dáil last week, Donnelly went to bat for everyone’s favourite unelected body of government advisors.
“I wish to put on the record of the House just how disappointed and uncomfortable I have been with some of the public commentary and the online vitriol that has been directed at senior figures in NPHET in recent days,” he said.
“These people have worked tirelessly for the past 18 months. I have enormous respect for them. They do have an important and difficult job that they have to do.”
Apparently, Stephen Donnelly is disappointed in the public for criticising Tony Holohan and NPHET online. Imagine the public being angry at the unelected bureaucrats who are running the country into the ground? #disbandNphet pic.twitter.com/GI7iOgopj0
— JRD (@JRD0000) July 2, 2021
These comments came as the hashtag #DisbandNPHET was trending on Twitter for several days, with over 20,000 tweets, and individuals the length and breadth of the country venting their understandable frustration at NPHET’s advice to delay the re-opening of the economy once again.
The NPHET advice has been described as very sobering in regard to the potential impact of the Delta variant https://t.co/NEUCuigGtY
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 28, 2021
But think for a moment, if you will, about the remarkable arrogance we have before us.
Politicians like Donnelly are what we used to call public servants – the key word there being “servant.” They are paid – some might say overpaid – by the general public to carry out our will and wishes. They are the employees, and the public are their bosses.
What’s more, Donnelly is not a particularly popular politician – not only is his party crashing to new lows in poll after poll, but he himself only scraped into his seat in the 15th count at the last election, barely making it in by the skin of his teeth in his own constituency among voters who know him best.
Fianna Fáil’s support drops to 11% in latest Red C poll https://t.co/q06i13t2hj via @businessposthq
— Shane Beatty 🎙️ (@ShaneBeattyNews) March 27, 2021
Harris and Donnelly among the last TDs to get their seats after dramatic night of counting https://t.co/waW7ipyCaM
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 11, 2020
Voters did not have high hopes for this man at the election, and, if his performance as Health Minister over the past year or so is anything to go by, they were right to be dubious.
And yet, he has the temerity to lecture the general public about how “disappointed” he is that the people who pay his salary would dare to speak ill of a bunch of similarly overpaid government advisors who are totally unelected by the people. Advisers who, at least arguably, have been making large sections of the populations’ life a living hell for months with calls like the one to prolong the lockdown.
Note as well that politicians like Donnelly have no issue with NPHET criticising the public, mind you. When Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan talks about how “absolutely shocked” he is at the general public socialising in town, and how “this is what we do not need,” that’s perfectly acceptable and fine. It’s just the little people who aren’t allowed to criticise Saint Tony back – that’s a bridge too far, apparently.
‘Like a major open air party’ – shocked Tony Holohan hits out at large crowds socialising in Dublin https://t.co/BVlVS2t9LU
— Irish Independent (@Independent_ie) May 29, 2021
With attitudes like this, is it any wonder why parties like Fianna Fáil are, frankly, dying, and why parties that at least appear populist like Sinn Féin are on the inexorable rise? Who would have thought that hectoring and talking down to voters rather than addressing their reasonable concerns would be a bad political strategy?