Holohan and Reid to be called before Covid-19 Dáil committee

Three senior health officials are the first witnesses to be questioned by the new Oireachtas Covid-19 committee when it meets next week.

After a lengthy debate in private session, the 19 members of the committee agreed at their first meeting that Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, director general of the HSE Paul Reid and secretary general of the Department of Health Jim Breslin would be the first witnesses to appear before the committee over two two-hour sessions.

They will be questioned about the issue of testing and tracing and Covid-19 in congregated settings, as well as plans for a return to work for sectors of the economy, including the construction industry, from next Monday.

In the third session, the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Health and Safety Authority will be invited to attend to answer questions in relation to the opening up of the construction and other related sectors.

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The following week the committee is expected to discuss nursing homes and other care settings.

However the work programme has to go before the Dáil business committee which will decide if it can safely run three two-hour sessions on one day in the Dáil chamber, given the requirements to air the room. The business committee had originally approved two sessions but committee members said they would like to have three.

All parties and groups in the committee will be sending further proposals for the committee’s consideration.

Earlier, Independent TD Michael McNamara was appointed chair of the Covid-19 committee without a vote.

Commenting on the meeting which met for almost four hours, mainly in private session, Sinn Féin health spokeswoman Louise O’Reilly said “it is good that we will have a focus on those areas that are the most concerning – testing and tracing, congregated settings and the construction sector”.

Ms O’Reilly said she was particularly interested in making sure the voices of workers’ representatives from construction and healthcare were heard.

Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall welcomed the focus on the public health response and the “road map” for reopening the economy.

“There was a suggestion that we might have political people in first, Ministers and possibly the Taoiseach but most other members were strongly of the view that we needed to deal with those other issues first because they are the most pressing,” she said.

Speaking about his party’s support for newly elected chairman of the committee Michael McNamara, Labour Party TD Duncan Smith said the party wanted somebody in opposition “and we were very open to David Cullinane or Róisín Shortall. But McNamara rang last night and obviously we have a history with him.

“He is a barrister with a legal background and I was happy to support him but there was no discussion to keep Sinn Féin out. I’d have been happy to proceed with David as chair.”

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Stephen Donnelly said he was glad that “there is at least a Dáil committee back. The vacuum of political scrutiny is nobody’s fault but it’s very dangerous given the scale of decisions, social, civil liberties, health and economic that are being made”.

Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd said it was a long meeting but “a lot of us are beginning to understand the perspective that individuals have and what their priorities are”.

Mr McNamara was proposed as chairman by Green Party TD Ossian Smyth.

The committee voted by 12 votes to six against Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane for chair of the committee. Mr McNamara had abstained in the vote. Mr Cullinane was nominated by the party's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty.

The newly elected chair thanked the 19 member committee for selecting him and said he hoped the committee could operate on a collegial manner.

Mr McNamara (46) is a former Labour TD who served from 2011 to 2016 when he lost his seat, but regained it in 2020.

A barrister and farmer based in Scarriff in Co, Clare he joined the Independent group of TDs in the the current Dáil. This is one of three groups of Independents and it comprises Mr McNamara, Marian Harkin, Joan Collins, Catherine Connolly, Thomas Pringle and Michael Fitzmaurice.

Mr McNamara, Ms Harkin and Mr Fitzmaurice represented the group in a two hour-meeting on government formation with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and described it afterwards as constructive but preliminary. Among the issues the group was pushing for were reform of the civil service and increased oversight of local government.

He had expressed an interest in becoming Ceann Comhairle but withdrew from the contest before the nominations closed.

The Clare TD was expelled from the parliamentary Labour party in 2015 when he voted against the government on the sale of Aer Lingus shares. It was his third time to vote against the party, but he was re-admitted the following year. He resigned from the party last year.

In November 2018 he won an appeal against a conviction for dangerous driving following an incident in December 2016.

He is married to fellow barrister Sarah Hillery, granddaughter of former president Paddy Hillery. Mr McNamara contested the 2011 general election against his father-in-law Dr John Hillery of Fianna Fáil.