Independent TD Mattie McGrath has said that “NPHET lost the support of the public a long time ago,” and has failed in its duties.
The remarks were made this week in the Dáil as the government moved to implement new Covid restrictions.
“People were spending a little for Christmas,” the Tipperary TD said.
“Deposits have been paid and people are now looking for them back, and whatever else. The people have gone through hell and back.”
McGrath added that the expansion of the Covid cert to venues such as gyms and leisure centres was “bizarre,” asking “where is the logic?”
“Either the vaccine passes are useless and we should get rid of them, or they work and we certainly do not need further restrictions,” he said.
“It must be one or the other. Both situations cannot be true at the same time…Where is the science [NPHET] always talks about?”
McGrath went on to claim that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly “failed dismally to get this situation under control.”
“NPHET has failed in its duties and has lost the support of the public. It lost it a long time ago,” he said.
“The Government has failed to build up hospital bed capacity and ICU capacity despite being given the resources to do so. I put on record the HSE and the Department of Health got an extra €3.884 billion on top of the €20 billion-odd they had for 2020.
“That is not to mention what they have spent this year which we are just coming to the close of. I shudder to think we have so little capacity in our ICUs and that it has been so little increased. The waste has been shocking.”
McGrath added that he had “serious concerns” about the powers of NPHET, its level of control “over almost every element of Irish society,” and its “lack of accountability.”
Notably, this week, Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara said that he feared we were witnessing “the end of democracy as we know it.”
A TD has told the Dáil that “we are witnessing the end of democracy as we know it,” and claims that the government is “talking about restricting essential freedoms forever.”#gripthttps://t.co/ykTxjdKflc
— gript (@griptmedia) December 4, 2021