Government needs to govern

Sir, – Schools around Europe are reopening but here we are told that ours may not reopen in September, and even then probably for less than 50 per cent of the pupils on any given day.

Businesses in the hospitality sector due to reopen are about to announce mass layoffs due to the imposition of the two-metre rule by the National Public Health Emergency Team, when the World Health Organisation advice is one metre.

A glance at pre-pandemic newspaper coverage of the Department of Health and the HSE would show that they were regarded as poorly run organisations, incapable of managing their staff and budgets or change and reform.

In the rush to praise, and rightfully so, the frontline workers in the HSE, the fact that the organisation as a whole is dysfunctional and poorly managed has been forgotten. It is these same people that are now in charge of the whole economy as our Government treats every diktat from them as being something akin to an infallible pronouncement.

It is time for the Government to govern. – Yours, etc,

STEPHEN GLEESON,

Killiney,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – We need to face the reality that without reducing the physical distance rule to one metre, schools simply will not be able to return fully in September and many small businesses will never reopen. The impact of the long-standing mismanagement of our health service is now spilling over into wider society, with potentially disastrous consequences on children’s education and our economy.

It’s a rather bizarre situation that decision-making on how we move forward is being made almost entirely by those who were responsible for leaving our health service so ill-prepared to deal with this crisis.

This country had an election in February, yet almost four months later the will of the Irish people has not been reflected in the formation of a new government.

We urgently need a new government to start running the country rather than continually delegating this job to experts with a very narrow area of expertise. A detailed risk assessment of the costs of continuing with the two-metre guideline should be a minimum requirement. This risk assessment must not be confined to purely the health consequences of Covid-19 but look at the broader picture. – Yours, etc,

RUARY MARTIN,

Sandyford,

Dublin 18.