Deputy Mattie McGrath has called for a full Covid-19 Public Inquiry, with the TD saying that a public consultation won’t go far enough. It comes after the Tipperary Independent attended a protest in support of Dr. Marcus de Brun, who is facing a Medical Council hearing inquiry over his views on Covid public health guidelines.
Dr de Brún, who ran the Rush Family Practise in North Dublin, is currently in the middle of a disciplinary dispute with the Irish Medical Council over an allegation of professional misconduct and failing to support Covid public health guidelines. A hearing is due to take place in July.
A number of GPs in attendance at the protest yesterday supported Dr De Brún, saying that they continue to experience the impact of questioning the lockdown and/or the Covid vaccines.
Supporters and campaigners with placards also called for the freedom for doctors to express opinions. Deputy McGrath is understood to have been the only TD in attendance at Tuesday’s protest. He now says that a full, independent public inquiry into the State’s handling of the Covid crisis is paramount, especially in the context of the neglect of elderly people at two nursing homes, as exposed in an RTE documentary last week.
In October 2024, the Government announced that it will carry out an evaluation of how Ireland managed Covid, with Professor Anne Scott appointed to oversee the process. The evaluation will mostly or entirely be held in private, and will have no powers to compel witnesses or documents, with the previous Government saying that they didn’t want an inquiry to be a “witchhunt.”
Prof Scott has repeatedly said the process will not be not a public inquiry but a “non-statutory, non-adversarial independent review.”
The terms of reference for the evaluation cover January 2020 to February 28, 2022, and include the whole-of-government response, and how another public health emergency may be handled.
“Not only were critical decisions made behind closed doors, but many medical professionals who dared to ask questions – including Dr. De Brún – have been dragged before the Medical Council for speaking out,” Deputy McGrath said, adding: “This is deeply wrong.”
He said that the protest wasn’t “just about one doctor” but centred on the question of whether “our society still values professional independence, freedom of expression and questioning of the consensus particularly during times of crisis.”
Deputy McGrath continued: “Silencing medical professionals was a very worrying course of action and we need answers. We don’t have to all agree all of the time, but we cannot have a society where no one is allowed to question the sole narrative, or where people’s livelihoods are threatened for daring to question the Government’s approach.
“It’s time for a full independent public inquiry, a public consultation doesn’t go far enough. We owe it to the people who suffered and continue to suffer as a result of actions taken to have a full independent public enquiry into the State’s handling of COVID 19.”
The terms of the Irish Covid Public Inquiry have yet to be established. It is expected to examine the preparation for, response to, and the impact of Covid in Ireland, particularly on the care home sector. However, it will not deal with issues of civil and criminal liability but rather, is set to make recommendations for future change that will be presented to the Government.
A number of TDs have demanded a “full-scale” inquiry, with Mr McGrath last year saying that Ireland needed “to learn from our mistakes.”
The TD had strongly criticised the Government’s decision to carry out a non-statutory evaluation of the country’s response to Covid, saying that it necessitated independent experts that have no connections to Ireland.
In April, a meeting of Cork County Council discussed a motion requesting a fully transparent and independent public inquiry into the previous Government’s handling of the pandemic – saying that it should be held within the next few months. Independent Councillor Peter O’Donoghue tabled the motion, which also requested that the inquiry would investigate the causes of the major increase in excess deaths in the last three years and to establish whether such deaths were linked to the Covid restrictions.
The Cork councillor emphasised the words “transparent, independent and public” in his motion, stating that a closed door enquiry could see the Government “hand pick” individuals.
The motion highlighted how restrictions, including the shutting of schools, colleges and childcare facilities, went on for nearly two years, with the process having major implications for civil, human, constitutional and democratic rights.
Other councillors, however, described the motion as “loaded”, with Cllr O’Donoghue expressing his dismay that it didn’t pass.
“We as councillors can keep our heads buried in the sand or we can say that we want an independent public inquiry into the state’s reaction to Covid-19 and that we also want the very concerning increase in excess deaths investigated as well,” he said, as reported in the Irish Independent.
“At that time there were many professionals who voiced their opposition to what the government were doing. I find it astonishing that there are councillors who do not want this motion to go through,” he added.
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