LAST UPDATE | 18 Sep 2023

TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has claimed he was “very angry” with members of NPHET after he claims the health group briefed the media on changes to the covid-19 restrictions before government.

Varadkar said he believes he went “too far” with his remarks in an RTÉ interview three years ago – where he personally criticised ex-Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan.

In his upcoming memoir, Dr Holohan references the interview and details that the remarks made by the Taoiseach upset his recently-deceased wife, Emer Feely, at the time.

Speaking to reporters in New York today, the Taoiseach said apologises for making personalised criticisms about members of NPHET and that it “wasn’t fair”.

Varadkar said he has yet to read the book, but said his remarks were “not fair”.

“I was very angry at the time the way the advice from NPHET had changed very dramatically overnight, that government wasn’t consulted, that it was briefed to media before the government was informed – which I know a lot of us in government were very frustrated at.

“But it wasn’t right of me to make personalised criticisms about members of NPET questioning their motivations and their understanding as to how decisions impact on people. That wasn’t fair…”

“I’m certainly sorry for that,” Varadkar said.

Varadkar detailed that an inquiry into the decisions made during the pandemic will be held in the future and that it “won’t be a witch hunt”.

The Taoiseach said: “I think, in the [end], all of us involved in making those decisions – whether it was HSE or NPHET or the Department of Health or Government – made the right choice, most of the time.”

‘We both made the wrong call’

Earlier, Simon Harris has praised the former Chief Medical Officer despite his criticism of some of the Government’s decision making during the height of the pandemic.

In his memoir, ‘We Need to Talk’, published later this week, Dr Holohan criticises the Government’s decision to reopen pubs and restaurants during the so-called “meaningful Christmas” of 2020.

Holohan said that doing so likely led to preventable deaths.

“There were more than 1,500 Covid deaths in January 2021. It was the single worst month for deaths over the entire course of the pandemic,” Holohan writes.

Responding to these comments today, Minister for Higher Education (and former Health Minister) Simon Harris said that he has “no doubt” that the Government made the best decisions it could at the time.

“Covid-19 was an extraordinarily difficult time for successive governments.

“I was there at the start and there was obviously a change of government midway through and I’ve no doubt everybody made the best decisions that they possibly could with the evidence and information available to them,” Harris said.

He noted that this included trying to weigh up different competing issues in terms of people’s wellbeing, health, economic wellbeing and issues in schools and education.

Varadkar later said today that he believes, in relation to the decisions made in December 2020, that both NPHET and the government “made the wrong call”.

Varadkar said: “NPHET proposed one form of reopening, which would’ve meant a lot of social interactions in private houses. Government proposed a different reopening plans, which involved some hospitality and some private houses.

“In retrospect, there shouldn’t have been any opening up at all because of the Alpha variant, and that changed things fundamentally. But let’s not forget the advice from NPHET at the time was that initially the Alpha variant was not an issue of concern.”

Varadkar added that there is “a lot of things to be worked through” in regards to the decisions made at the time and he thinks that everyone involved should recognise that they got “most things right”.

Harris said he plans to read Holohan’s book and hopes to attend the book launch if his diary allows. 

“I think very highly of Tony personally and professionally. Of course, advisers advise and ministers decide and there will be times Tony gave advice and many, many times that will have been followed and other times ministers have to make other decisions.

“But I think Ireland is all the better for Tony Holohan being our Chief Medical Officer,” Harris said.

He added: “There were never any easy options when it came to Covid, and I think we’ve seen that right around the world.

“Ireland got a lot right during the pandemic. Of course, it didn’t get everything right and I do welcome the fact that we have a chance to have a proper look back and review all of these things so we can be better prepared for future pandemics.

“But I do want to say this, Tony Holohan – and I know because his office was about three or four doors away from mine in the Department of Health – worked extraordinarily hard for this country.

He worked extraordinarily hard at a time of immense personal challenge and difficulty to him, to his children, and to his late wife Emer,  and he deserves our thanks and gratitude in this country.”

‘Hard done by’

Elsewhere in Holohan’s book, the former CMO reflects on the secondoment scandal involving his move to a role in Trinity College Dublin. 

The new post was to be an “open-ended secondment” funded by the Department of Health under the same terms as Dr Holohan’s existing contract. 

However, when details of the planned secondment emerged it caused huge political backlash with the plan ultimately falling apart after then Taoiseach Micheál Martin indicating that it should be paused. 

In his book, Holohan outlines how he believes he was unfairly treated during the controversy.

“I had no reason to believe it would be anything other than a straightforward matter to progress,” Holohan writes in the memoir.

“I was informed and believed that all the necessary briefings of people who needed to be aware, particularly the minister, had taken place. From my point of view, we were where we needed to be … everything was in place. Until it wasn’t.”

He describes what he saw to be “inadequate communication” which meant the news “caught people on the hop”.

Dr Holohan’s book ‘We Need to Talk’ is published this Thursday, 21 September.

Additional reporting by Muiris O’Cearbhaill and Christina Finn.