'Contact tracing is a mess' – Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD

Donegal TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Féin) has accused Tánaiste Leo Varadkar of “arrogantly swatting away” NPHET's original recommendation for a four-week move to Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions.

Speaking to Donegal Live, Mr Mac Lochlainn said: “The truth of it is, two weeks ago, the government was not willing to accept that, because of its serious mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis, we are asking our people, we are forcing our businesses and our workers, to close down again, in the mouth of Christmas.

“We are all having to make the sacrifice of a six-week move to Level 5 restrictions, because we do not have a strong enough hospital system to cope as the number of positive Covid-19 cases goes up.”

Deputy Mac Lochlainn also described the government's Contact Tracing system as a “mess”.

He added: “I can tell you now, as a TD for Donegal, the Contact Tracing system is a mess. It is nowhere near what it should be. The government lost control of it quite quickly.

“Contract Tracing is crucial. Everybody tells us, you do your test and you do your contact tracing. In the months when we had respite, when we had breathing space, the government just did not act. It did not make sure we were prepared for the current situation.”

According to Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, the imposition of Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions across the State raises serious questions for Leo Varadkar and the government.

He said: “There are two things that have left Donegal and Ireland in a very vulnerable position. The first is that we had the lowest number of Intensive Care Units in the European Union when we came into this crisis.

“Also, we had 100% beds capacity in the major hospitals, which means that there were always people on trolleys. There was no spare capacity in the hospital. We have had that situation for the last number of years. It used to be a winter beds' crisis or flu season but it became a phenomenon, a year round beds' crisis that was allowed to happen.

“We have the lowest level of Intensive Care beds and we have full bed capacity, so we are very exposed. The reason we had the lock-down earlier in the year was because we all knew that we were very vulnerable. We all realised what we were facing if we did not have that lockdown and we all signed up to it.

“So, what NPHET, who are public health experts, doctors, professors and epidemiologists said two week's ago was that the pathway we were on would place an impossible burden on our hospitals, that was the direction in which we were going and its concerns were arrogantly swatted away by Leo Varadkar,” said Mr Mac Lochlainn.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said the government had “wasted the breathing space” gained as a result of the lock-down in March.

He said: “The government failed to increase the intensive care capacity in our hospitals. However, worse than that, it did not increase the Contact Tracing system. Contact tracing is key. We have to test and contact trace. We have to be able to go back to a person who tests positive and find out where they contracted the virus and then make sure that everybody else is notified. We need to get a grip of emerging situations. The government should have had the numbers in place for contract tracing but it did not.

“When we had breathing space, the government just did not act. It did not make sure we were prepared. The truth of it is, two weeks ago, it was not willing to accept that, because of its serious mishandling of this crisis, we are asking our people, we are forcing our businesses and our workers to close down again, in the mouth of Christmas.

“We are all having to make the sacrifice because we do not have a strong enough hospital system to cope as these numbers go up. Leo Varadkar arrogantly swatted NPHET aside and now and the government needs to answer for this.

“It is time for the Government to be straight with the people and show respect. The Government has been lecturing our people, saying we have let our guard down, and yes, some people have, but what the government is not saying is that it also let its guard down. The government needs to admit it sat on its hands for the few months of respite. It did not increase contact tracing. It did not ensure the hospital system was strengthened with sufficient beds nurses and doctors. And now, we are not in a position to cope with the increased numbers so we have to lock you down again,” said Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn said all public representatives in Donegal were dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on people in the county.

He said: “Something is not right. The government is asking the people I represent to make incredible sacrifices again. A lot of businesses will not open again. Some people will spend years financially trying to recover from this situation.

“The government is preaching about the need to do various things. However, it too needs to step up and tell people the truth.

“The truth is, we had an appalling health system which has left us uniquely exposed to this pandemic and, in those few months that we gave you, through huge sacrifice, you, the government, sat on your hands, and you did not build up the capacity in the hospitals and you did not sort out the contact tracing problems. And here we are again and we are back now where we where and we are as ill prepared now as we were six months ago.

“I am angry because as a public representative, every single day from morning to night, I am talking to people, workers, businesses families and they are deeply distressed. This is a terrible time for our people. It is time the government stopped lecturing people and owned up to its own mistakes. I think we would respect it a lot more if it did,” said Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.