Leo Varadkar’s “attack” on Dr Tony Holohan and NPHET has been slammed as “handbags” by the Social Democrats.
While Sinn Fein’s health spokesman David Cullinane said it’s “unseemly” that Mr Varadkar was “squaring up” against NPHET and the CMO.
Opposition parties were out at Leinster House this morning to react to last night’s government announcement and Tanáiste Leo Varadkar’s criticism of public health experts.
Co-leader of the Social Democrats Catherine Murphy said the Tanaiste's comments last night were “unfortunate,” “unnecessary” and “very undermining.”
She said: “They [government] were taken by surprise by the information on Sunday night that was obviously leaked.
“But I think you have to be bigger than that, in terms of saying this is not about handbags, this is about public health first and foremost and we have to get back to that.”
While co-leader Roisin Shorthall said Mr Varadkar’s “attack” on Dr Tony Holohan was “unhelpful” and “unwarranted” and said yesterday “was a bad day for the country.”
Fianna Fail’s Éamon Ó Cuív also slapped down Mr Varadkar’s critical comments on RTE’s Claire Byrne last night.
He tweeted: “Completely appropriate for the government not to follow NPHET’s advice citing broader social and economic concerns.
“Not appropriate for certain members of government to trash NPHET and the CMO in doing so.”
While Sinn Fein’s health spokesman David Cullinane said it’s “unseemly” that Mr Varadkar was “squaring up” against NPHET and the CMO.
It was wrong to “answer back” NPHET about concerns raised about health capacity, he added.
Mr Cullinane said he hopes the relationship between NPHET and government is “repairable” and that “undoubtedly damage was done”.
