There are many reasons to be glad of the news which began to trickle out on Friday, and was confirmed by the Irish Times over the weekend. NPHET, it seems, is living on borrowed time:
Farewell then to Nphet and Dr Tony’s briefings and letters as the war is coming to an end. Electric Picnic will be the final issue of contention. Nphet to disband in October as employees expected to return to office from September
https://t.co/jWnLDSFMml— Fionnan Sheahan (@fionnansheahan) August 28, 2021
NPHET’s prominence throughout the course of the pandemic will have been welcomed by, and provided reassurance to, many. It should not be suggested either that they are some sort of aberration: The UK had prominent medics, too, with Boris Johnson regularly flanked by doctors at his Downing Street press conferences. The United States had, and still has, the Centre for Disease Control, and Dr. Antony Fauci. In times of crisis, it is reassuring to see and hear from people who are experts. Across the world, the past two years have been dominated by the views of medical experts. There is nothing wrong with that.
Only in Ireland, though, did the medics achieve the level of political and cultural power that NPHET have been attained. In other countries, when politicians talked about their medical advisors, they talked about what the medics might advise. In Ireland, and Ireland alone, it was not uncommon to hear politicians, in unguarded moments, talk about what NPHET might “allow”, or “permit”.
Part of that, of course, reflects a deeply engrained Irish fear of governing ourselves. A fear that we do not speak of, but which is perhaps the most dominant factor in our political culture. Our county councillors need a county manager to make decisions for them. Our Government happily cedes sovereignty to the European Union at every opportunity. Our people are openly happier at the idea of medical experts calling the shots during a pandemic than they are at the idea of our elected politicians making the decisions. In Ireland alone, our politicians know that the best way to win our trust is to show the public that they are not the ones actually making the decisions.
We dress this up, of course, with all sorts of fancy names. In the EU, we “pool our sovereignty”. With NPHET, we “let the experts guide us”. For many years, politicians deferred to Bishops and Priests on what the laws should be. Today, they still defer to those with moral authority, whether it be NPHET, or Angela Merkel, or Colm O’Gorman and Amnesty Ireland.
In any case, if NPHET is to depart the stage, it should be welcomed if for no other reason than it should herald a return to good old fashioned political accountability. Tony Holohan, for all his talents, was never elected by anybody to make decisions about the levels of freedom Irish people should have. He has repeatedly (and with no censure from the press) crossed the line of his role over the past year, most egregiously when he sent a tweet about people partying on the streets of Dublin, which was received by the Gardai as a de facto instruction to begin a clampdown on entirely legal outdoor behaviour. At times, Holohan and NPHET have conducted themselves more like a King and his council than civil servants. And at all times, no matter how unjustified their advice, or how contradictory the policy pursued by Government, they have also served as a mudguard for Government: “We’re just following the advice”, said the backbenchers, in the face of angry constituents.
Well, with NPHET gone, that will be no longer the case, and those constituents might finally get their voice back.
It will be popular, in the months and years ahead, to shower NPHET with praise, and claim that they guided us through the pandemic.
But in truth, Ireland’s pandemic record has been little more than bang average. We are mid-table, globally, in terms of deaths, and cases. We fared very poorly in our nursing homes, a fact which has been swept under the carpet with all the determination of our forefathers to stay quiet about the mother and baby homes.
Our vaccination programme has been very successful, but much slower than that of our nearest neighbours. Hence, their stadiums are full, and ours are not.
We have a terrible habit in Ireland of celebrating and elevating mediocrity. As such, the myths are already being made. Dr. Holohan’s name will certainly be floated in connection with the Presidency. NPHET’s disbandment will be met with an outpouring of keening and mourning in the media that will be redolent of the death of a monarch. But it is not a day of sorrow. It is, and should always be, a day of joy. Good riddance.