Cross-party co-operation on Covid now well and truly over

The fractious exchanges in the Dáil on Wednesday between Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Opposition leaders starkly reflect the political reality that a collective approach to the national emergency presented by the coronavirus pandemic has long since disintegrated.

The once-daily phrase “we are all in this together” has not been uttered in the Dáil by a Government minister since late Spring.

Instead, the discourse on the State’s approach to Covid has descended into bitter insults traded across the floor. On Wednesday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the Government of “dithering and delaying” on antigen testing. Mr Martin claimed she was exploiting the pandemic for political ends and accused her of “running with the hare and chasing with the hounds”.

There was an even more astonishing exchange between Mr Martin and Labour leader Alan Kelly about who said what during a brief conversation on Tuesday on whether teachers would be exempt from new restrictions.

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Rejecting outright Mr Kelly’s account of the conversation, Mr Martin told the Labour leader in the Dáil on Wednesday: “You learn something new every day. I learned something about you yesterday that I will not forget and it will govern our relationship into the future. I have never seen the likes of it.”

Mr Kelly retorted: “If you want to call me a liar, call me a liar.”

There is agreement on both Government and Opposition sides about one thing: the consensus that governed the approach of the body politic to the Covid-19 threat in 2020 and into 2021 no longer exists, and has been absent since the summer.

The most reliable yardstick for that is Leaders’ Questions. Almost without exception since late September, the sessions have turned into slagging matches, with the Opposition pointing out shortcomings in the Government’s approach and Mr Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar using a default response that the Opposition parties are being negative or populist, or both.

There are differences of position among the four main Opposition parties. Labour has probably been the most supportive of Government measures to date, followed by the Social Democrats. Then there is Sinn Féin, and finally People Before Profit which has broadly pushed for Zero Covid rather than a “Living with Covid” strategy.

Government TDs are no longer talking wholly in unison either. For example, Jim O’Callaghan of Fianna Fáil has called for the retention of full Pandemic Unemployment Payments for those who will lose their jobs because of new restrictions announced this week. He was not alone - the sentiment was echoed at Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parliamentary party meetings on Wednesday night.

Emergency legislation

Labour and the Social Democrats backed the Government’s proposals to extend Covid emergency legislation - until January 2022 - when it came before the Dáil in late October. Sinn Féin opposed it. Its argument was that such far-reaching legislation allowed the formulation of rules and regulations that could not be subjected to scrutiny. The other parties said that the exceptional nature of the emergency justified it.

Róisín Shortall of the Social Democrats and David Cullinane of Sinn Féin separately pointed out that the Government expected the Opposition parties to agree to a common approach but rarely, if ever, gave briefings to them on the latest information.

“We are asked to support measures where there are no briefings and no debate. We do support public health advice but that does not mean we are giving a blank cheque to the Government,” said Mr Cullinane.

Similarly a Social Democrats spokesperson said: “The Taoiseach expects cheerleaders on the opposition benches. Our job is to hold the Government to account.”

There has been a clear divide between the Government and Opposition on two matters in particular: antigen testing and ventilation.

The expert group chaired by Professor Mark Ferguson recommended the widespread use of antigen testing as far back as March but the Government backed away from taking on the two most powerful figures in National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), Dr Tony Holohan and Prof Philip Nolan, both of whom were strenuously opposed to widespread deployment.

Frustration at delays with antigen testing was expressed in the Dáíl on Wednesday by Labour’s Kelly and Sinn Féin’s McDonald.

Similarly, all Opposition parties have been vocal on the need for more measures to adequately ventilate buildings. The Social Democrats and People Before Profit have returned to this theme on a regular basis. Yet, it is something the Government has not yet considered. Ventilation was wholly absent from this week’s announcement.

Given the ever-changing and unpredictable nature of the pandemic, it is not hard to divine inconsistencies in the approach of all political parties on both sides of the House. There has been some flip-flopping from each political party on Zero Covid, on digital certificates, on the vaccine programme, on hospitality, on schools and on testing-and-tracing this year.

What seemed like a smart strategy in October, for example, (no contact tracing in schools) does not seem quite so smart in November.

One thing is certain: The mute button is no longer being pressed on dissenting voices when it comes to the coalition’s Covid strategy.