The Sinn Féin leader has warned that COVID-19 restrictions cannot be safely lifted until Ireland’s testing regime is brought up to speed.
Mary Lou McDonald who has recently recovered from the coronavirus waited 16 days for her test results to come back.
Meanwhile, Ivan Yates who interviewed face-to-face the evening before her symptoms started showing, was not contacted by a tracing team until 22 days later.
"The real mystery is that you've been in the company of a series of people who have had this virus and you have battled on. You are a scientific phenomenon!" @MaryLouMcDonald is talking to Ivan - one of the last people she saw before contracting #Coronavirus - now on @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/WL167uXvox
— IvanYatesNT (@IvanYatesNT) April 22, 2020
On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Deputy McDonald said the testing and contact tracing delays are “dangerous” and “just not acceptable.”
“So many people’s experiences have been that you get swabbed and you are waiting two weeks, three weeks, in some cases longer,” she said.
“The problem with that is, number one, that you are left in the dark about your own health and safety – do you have the virus, do you not?
“That is particularly problematic if you are working on the front-line.
“But secondly and critically it means that so long as you don’t have your results the very, very necessary contact tracing can’t happen.”
Restrictions
She said it is essential that the delays in the testing and tracing are dealt with before the national restrictions are relaxed.
“This is particularly important now because Government ministers, the Taoiseach himself wish to start a conversation around how we exit and how we unwind,” she said.
“All of us want that to happen god knows but it has to happen safely and, in my view, it can’t happen safely unless and until we have proper testing and we have a proper system of tracing.”
She has written to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar urging him to consult with all party leaders before moving to relax restricitons.
There must be no solo run by govt on 'exit plan' and wind down of public health restrictions. Consultation and agreement with party leaders is essential. Wrote to Taoiseach this evening setting this out #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/ejEO0zuo82
— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) April 22, 2020
Childcare
The Sinn Féin leader also criticised the delay in establishing a system of childcare for healthcare workers on the frontline.
This afternoon, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) had approved a plan to provide paid leave to the partners of healthcare workers who work in other parts of the public service.
He admitted that the scheme will only work for households that have two public sector workers, one of whom does not work in healthcare.
He said officials are considering a plan to allow childminders to come into homes if restrictions begin to be eased next month.
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaks during a visit to Dublin Regional Homeless Executive COVID-19 response hub as Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy looks on, 22-04-2020. Image: Leon Farrell/Photocall IrelandDelay
Deputy McDonald said it should never have taken so long to come up with the plan.
“I am absolutely at a loss as to why it took this length of time to clear a measure such as paid leave for the partners of frontline health workers,” she said.
“I don’t understand how that had any real public health consideration.
“It certainly was a political decision and it should have been made more quickly.”
She also warned that the approach does not solve the childcare issues facing the vast majority of healthcare workers on the frontline.
You can listen back to the full interview here:
