LAST UPDATE | 19 Mar 2021
DEPUTY CMO DR Ronan Glynn has apologised to anyone “frustrated or angered” by a viral clip of comments he made last night, urging people to look at the entirety of his message.
Glynn was speaking at a press briefing this evening that saw NPHET green-light the resumption of the Oxford/AstraZenca vaccine in this country.
Speaking at a separate briefing last night, Glynn had said that he was asking people to do “that little bit more than you’ve been doing over the last week or two” and adhere to the measures in the coming weeks.
“If every individual can do just that little bit more over the next few weeks we will stop another wave,” Dr Glynn said.
The 30-second clip of those comments, shared by RTÉ News and viewed over half a million times – was heavily criticised on social media today.
Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn says they are asking everyone to do just a little bit more than what they are doing. "If every individual can do just that little bit more over the next few weeks we will stop another wave," he says | https://t.co/gaWKT5uDYd pic.twitter.com/0JNBBZ2TW0
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 18, 2021
Asked about the reaction to the comments, Glynn said this evening that the wider message from NPHET was of an appreciation for the efforts people have been making.
“The first thing I’d like to say is I absolutely apologise to anybody who feels frustrated or angered or frankly at the end of the tether when they see that clip from the press conference last night,” he said.
Equally though I would ask anyone who feels like that to look at the entirety of the press conference last night. The theme of the press conference was gratitude from NPHET to the millions of people who complied with public health measures at St. Patrick’s Day.
“We have sought over and over again over the past year to acknowledge the fatigue, the frustration, the exhaustion that people are feeling with these measures. We know how difficult it is for people in this country, we do not make our recommendations lightly,” he said.
Unfortunately, the reality for us sitting at this table is that no one wants to hear our message, we know that. We consistently come in here and ask people to do what we know is difficult, what we know they’re sick and tired of hearing. We’re exhausted, if we’re exhausted from listening to ourselves talking about, I can’t imagine how disgruntled and exhausted the population are at listening to us.
Glynn has repeated on a number of occasions in recent weeks that he’s aware people are fed up of the restrictions, but that the level of disease in the country remains at too high a level at present before they can be significantly eased.
“I specifically said last night that I did not want to speak about restrictions because I knew would be a headline today and that headline is very demoralising for people who are trying to do the right thing. So I’d asked people, all parts of society to stick with key messages over the coming weeks, which is that there is hope, eight out of 10 people will have received the vaccine by the end of June. We can all look forward collectively to much brighter days, we will be able to look back proudly on what we did as society.”
Stalled
Glynn’s comments about the need for ongoing adherence to the public health messages comes as the decline in cases has stalled in recent weeks.
NPHET’s Professor Philip Nolan has said that a small increase in people’s contacts and mobility partly explains this change.
In a tweet this afternoon, the chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group said it was important that members NPHET highlight the situation even if it’s “unpopular” to do so.
At last night’s NPHET briefing, public health figures highlighted how Ireland had made steady progress throughout January and February in decreasing the incidence of Covid-19 through adherence to the Level 5 restrictions.
However, daily new cases have begun to plateau and are hovering around an average of 500 cases a day.
Professor Nolan said that this was due to increased mobility – more people attending work – and an increase in the number of contacts people were having.
Complaints about tired messaging were echoed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin today, who said the government “gets it” and understands that people are “fed up”.
His comments came as doubt was cast over whether the 5km travel restriction will be eased next month amid concerns by some in Cabinet over the country’s progress and the plateauing of case numbers.
In his own tweet today, Professor Nolan shared some graphs demonstrating how cases have plateaued in recent weeks.
“It’s hard, unpopular even, to ask that we do more,” he said. “We did so much to get from > 6000 cases per day to < 600. A small increase in mobility and contact has stalled our progress. We have to highlight this, and yes, encourage each other to do a little bit more to suppress the virus.”
Gardaí figures
Professor Nolan’s remarks come as the latest figures from gardaí show that more than 15,000 fines have been issued to people found breaching the Covid-19 health regulations.
In their latest release of statistics they said that 15,358 is the total number of fines issued. The vast majority of those, 11,072, for non-essential travel.
There were 466 €500 tickets for organising a house party and 1,842 €150 for attending the event were given by gardaí.
In total there have been 1,011 €500 fines for non-essential journeys to airports or ports and 269 fines of €80 each for not wearing a face covering.
Gardaí have also issued 262 fines of €100 for non-essential travel by people who are “not ordinarily resident in the State”.
An Garda Síochána said they will be continuing nationwide checkpoints and high visibility patrols at public amenities, parks and beauty spots across the country this weekend in support of public health regulations.
They also warned that cars parked illegally at amenity sites could be towed by patrolling gardaí.
A garda statement also sought to reassure victims of sexual or domestic abuse that there are no travel restrictions when they are seeking help.
Anne Marie McMahon, Deputy Commissioner, Policing and Security, said the force appreciated the efforts of those complying with the restrictions.
“The best way of keeping safe this weekend is to stay home. If you are going out, please stay within your 5km, limit your contacts with others, maintain social distancing, and regularly wash your hands,” she said.
With reporting from Niall O’Connor and Rónán Duffy
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