LAST UPDATE | 16 Dec 2021

HOUSING MINISTER DARRAGH O’Brien has said he is not expecting any “drastic” recommendations from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) after it meets today, but perhaps a tweaking of the restrictions already in place. 

Speaking to The Journal, the Minister said: “I think it will be a tailoring of what we have in place already. That is my own view, but I haven’t received any information on that.”

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said yesterday that the NPHET may issue new recommendations on social mixing and close contacts after it meets today.

His comments followed on from a briefing between the three coalition leaders, the Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan and other senior members of NPHET on Monday evening, which was described as “constructive”.

“I would expect more recommendations around the management of close contacts, recommendations to decrease the amount of social mixing, and recommendations around international travel,” said Varadkar, speaking to the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk.

Varadkar also said that NPHET may recommend changes to the close contact management system in the run-up to Christmas.

Booster jabs

When asked about whether people would be told to hold off on seeing family members this Christmas, O’Brien told The Journal no recommendations have been received yet, adding:

“I can’t see any situation at all where we are saying to families that they can’t meet. We are not in that space. That’s not something that can happen.”

He said the government needs to focus on ramping up the booster vaccine campaign. 

“If you think about it now, what else is left in that regard [in terms of restrictions]? We need to keep the economy and society open and we’ve done that pretty successfully. Not every decision government makes is right, of course not. But one thing that we’ve all learned about Covid is there’s no certainties,” said the housing minister. 

While he said a Cabinet meeting has not been scheduled yet for tomorrow, he expects one will be held to discuss the NPHET advice issued today.

While he said there is no question the new variant Omicron is more transmissible, initial data appears to show the illness is less severe. That needs to be taken into account, he said. 

“I’ve looked at some of the data out of South Africa, it suggests that it potentially could be less severe, and is leading to less hospitalisation. So those types of things need to be weighed up. But I know the concern is that if more people get it, even a small percentage of a bigger number could overwhelm the health system. And that obviously has to be a focus that that we have on Friday, but there will be very open discussions on it,” he said. 

“I want our focus to be on expediting the booster campaign,” he added. 

With the Covid sub-committee meeting regularly and the three party leaders having separate meetings with the CMO in the run up to days where big decisions need to be made, does he feel as a minister that Cabinet has been sidelined somewhat during the decision-making process? 

“Maybe that is what some people might think, but it isn’t the case actually. We’ve always been guided by public health advice. And rightly so, they’re the experts in health and we cannot discount that, nor would we ever. It’s about saying, ‘well, here’s the advice and how do we work that’,” he said, adding that is the government’s job to tailor it, implement it and ensure what is recommended is actually implementable.

Ministers such as Higher Education Minister Simon Harris have said this week that the government needs a long-term strategy of how to live with the virus. O’Brien agreed, stating:

“We have to get to the stage whereby we’re going to have to live properly with Covid because it looks like, and I could be wrong, that this and other various variants will be around for some time.”

He said there is a need to find the balance between the public health advice and what’s realistically  implementable.

“It’s our job to interrogate [the advice] and to see what it actually means and how it can be put into force. I’m not a big fan of rolling restrictions, to be honest with you. I think our focus has got to be on expediting the booster campaign, getting it to more people,” said O’Brien.

Pandemic Unemployment Payment

Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said that “the public health measures that have been introduced out of concerns about Omicron, social gathering at Christmas and so on, have once again impacted on particular groups of workers and sectors in our society in terms of their ability to work at all or their ability to earn a sustainable living”.

He pointed to workers like musicians, entertainers, performers, taxi drivers and said they are encountering “major difficulties” or “being flat out denied” in their applications for the PUP.

He said some have been refused the payment on the “spurious basis” that they do not have a record of four weeks of PRSI contributions, but that as self-employed workers they would do their taxes at the end of the year and would not be able to readily provide that information.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that “certainly we want to make sure that those supports are in place for those people who work in the nighttime economy”.

He said Minister for Social Protection Heather Heathreys could look at whether any “flexibilities” can be put in place “because we don’t want to leave people without any money for Christmas”.

“As you’ll be aware, the PUP has been reopened on a limited basis for individuals, including self-employed people, like people who work in the nighttime economy and taxi drivers, who lose their employment on or after Tuesday 7 December because of the additional public health restrictions,” he said.

“The measures have a negative impact on sectors like hospitality, the night time economy, the arts, entertainment sectors, and the loss of employment must be linked to those new restrictions.

“The eligibility for the PUP includes self employed people, but they must have been a self-employed PRSI contributor and checks to ensure that are carried out by the department.”

With reporting by Lauren Boland