In July, summer had truly arrived. The country had largely reopened. A new government was in place, ending months of political purgatory. The traditional summer holiday abroad was still mostly off the table, but many took the opportunity to visit some of the likes of Ireland’s beautiful beaches, villages, greenways and historic locations.
As Government oversaw the reopening of the country - including new requirements for face masks indoors and the launch of a new COVID-19 contact tracing app - they were quickly thrown into a political crisis. Media reports revealed details of how the newly-appointed agriculture minister Barry Cowen served a driving ban for drink-driving in 2016. Deputy Cowen apologised for the incident in the Dáil acknowledged it was a ‘stupid, stupid mistake’. However, he refused to address details of a Garda report publicly - saying he disputed some of the details within it. That refusal prompted the Taoiseach to sack the agriculture minister - less than three weeks after he was appointed.
Dara Calleary was appointed as the new agriculture minister, but it wouldn’t be long before he too would be at the centre of an even bigger political controversy.
Sinn Féin, meanwhile, was the new main opposition party - a remarkable new role for the party under the leadership of Mary Lou McDonald. They had a scandal of their own, however, in the form of the Bobby Storey funeral. Prominent members of the party attended the Belfast funeral of the veteran republican. Images showing large crowds gathered and apparently limited social distancing. Party leaders apologised, but it was a controversy seized upon by many of Sinn Féin’s vocal opponents over the following days, weeks and even months.
In the meantime, the reopening process continued. Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan - who’d become the much-respected public face of Ireland’s coronavirus response due to his daily press briefings - announced he was stepping aside temporarily for family reasons. Dr Ronan Glynn took over the role, and he, NPHET and the Government continued the response to the ongoing pandemic.
Year in review, part one: An election, a royal visit and a lockdown
July was a reasonably quiet month in comparison to much of the year, but it was a big month for the Green Party. Back in Government, the party nonetheless had more than a few internal issues and conflicts. Eamon Ryan saw off a leadership challenge from deputy leader Catherine Martin. Meanwhile, just a month into the new Government, the party’s TD Neasa Hourigan resigned as party whip after voting against the Government on the Residential Tenancies Bill. Deputy Hourigan has remained in the party, but the second half of 2020 saw a steady stream of departures and resignations from councillors and senior members - including high-profile councillor Lorna Bogue and prominent election candidate Saoirse McHugh - as the party's more progressive wing grew frustrated with the party's actions in government.
There was bad news for pubs in August when it was confirmed they would not be allowed reopen as previously planned. That proved to be just one sign of continued concern over the coronavirus crisis as numbers began to gradually creep upwards. On August 7th, a ‘local lockdown’ was announced for Kildare, Laois and Offaly to curb the spread of the virus in the three counties. It was the first localised response to the pandemic, which had been tackled on a national basis up until that point. While measures for Laois and Offaly were lifted after two weeks as planned, the Kildare restrictions were ultimately in place until the end of the month.
Listen back to part one of our political correspondent Sean Defoe's year in review below:
Golfgate
22/07/2020 Covid-19 Pandemic (Coronavirus), Ireland, Lockdown Day 119. Day 25 of Phase Three. Pictured Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Dara Calleary arrives for Cabinet Meeting in Dublin Castle this afternoon. Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ieOn August 20th, the Irish Examiner reported that a Cabinet minister, several TDs and senators, an EU commissioner and a Supreme Court judge were among more than 80 people who attended an Oireachtas Golf Society Dinner the previous night. The event went ahead despite gatherings being limited to just 50 people. By the end of the following day, several of those who attended had apologised or resigned from their roles - including agriculture minister Dara Calleary.
The scandal - swiftly dubbed Golfgate - dominated headlines for days, and indeed continued for months afterwards due to the row in the judiciary over Mr Justice Seamus Woulfe’s attendance at the dinner. After a week of intense pressure, Phil Hogan - who also attended - resigned as EU trade commissioner, offering a “heartfelt apology to the Irish people for the mistakes I made”.
While GolfGate led to high-profile political resignations, it will also be remembered as a moment of anger and frustration for many people. After months of tough restrictions - such as not being able to visit close family or attend loved ones’ funerals - many members of the public voiced their fury at what unfolded. Even Government ministers acknowledged as much - Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien suggested Phil Hogan, before his eventual resignation, didn’t appear to ‘understand how angry people are’ about what had happened.
The controversy even led to a rare dispute within the judiciary, as Mr Justice Woulfe refused to resign despite being encouraged to do so by the Chief Justice. Government and the Oireachtas needed to decide whether to intervene in a tricky constitutional matter - they ultimately decided to not step in, despite a motion by some TDs attempting to kickstart impeachment proceedings against Mr Woulfe.
As children and teenagers returned to classrooms after nearly six months, September saw the eventual result of the calculated Leaving Cert grades following the cancellation of the traditional written exams. After a grading debacle in the UK, the process here seemed to go smoothly in comparison - with grades in general slightly higher than in previous years. However, it turned out not everything went as smoothly as had been hoped - in October, it was confirmed over 6,000 students would receive upgraded results after errors were discovered in the process. Particular concern was raised over how the errors only came to light after many students had accepted their offers of a college or university place. However, all students who missed out on a desired college place due to the errors were ultimately offered a place on their chosen course.
Meanwhile, September 15th saw the long-expected release of the Government’s medium-term ‘living with COVID-19’ plan - featuring five levels of restrictions. Counties or the entire country could be moved up or down levels depending on the prevalence of the virus at any given time. Initially, everywhere in the country was designated ‘level 2’ - the second-lowest level of restrictions. That didn’t last for long: Dublin was moved to level three within days, and Donegal followed days later.
It also became clear there was some flexibility to the rules. Terms such as ‘level three plus’ became commonplace, as tweaks were made to the rules depending on the situation. In Dublin, for example, wet pubs ('wet pubs' being yet another phrase to enter our vocabulary this year) were not allowed open under either level two or three - despite allowances made within the five-level plan for them to operate at some capacity under those restrictions.
Lockdown and a US election
During September and early October, the situation nationwide continued to deteriorate, with further restrictions placed on household visits in a bid to stop the spread of the virus. Things escalated dramatically on the night of Sunday 4th October, when media leaks revealed NPHET - once again overseen by Dr Tony Holohan, who’d just returned to work - had recommended the entire country be placed on level five, the highest level of restrictions. Within 24 hours, ministers had met and rejected NPHET’s proposal - opting for nationwide level three restrictions instead. Less than two weeks later, and amid continued rising cases, NPHET had another recommendation: level five for six weeks. This time, the Government accepted the advice. On 21st October, the second lockdown began - albeit with schools and childcare facilities staying open this time. It was announced those who held house parties or breached travel restrictions would face significant fines.
With the nights getting longer and lockdown in full effect, many Irish viewers turned their attention to the US in early November for a lengthy and dramatic US election count. As had been widely anticipated, election night itself offered no clear winner - instead, many viewers became hypnotised by CNN’s John King, who overnight became a celebrity in Ireland thanks to his cautious but authoritative grasp of the data (with the aid of a ‘magic wall’ showing every US state and county).
Election day was a Tuesday, but it wasn’t until Saturday that US media declared Joe Biden the president-elect. Donald Trump, meanwhile, spent the following month refusing to concede. One of the most surreal moments of the year came when the Trump campaign - including the US president's lawyer Rudy Giuliani - decided to hold a press conference outside the 'Four Seasons'. Not the hotel, mind you, but Four Seasons Total Landscaping. It led to the bizarre image of Mr Giuliani speaking to gathered press outside a non-descript car park in Philadelphia, next to an adult shop and a crematorium.
What in the actual... pic.twitter.com/FbOio5ZZPA
— Richard Hall (@_RichardHall) November 7, 2020
A series of failed legal challenges to the election results ultimately left Trump and his team with vanishingly few options - despite his unfounded claims of election fraud and a stubborn insistence that he could still win, Mr Trump gave officials the go-ahead to start the process of transitioning power to the Democrat.
Inauguration day 2021 is now scheduled for January 20th. The drama isn’t over yet, however: two Senate ‘runoff’ elections in Georgia in early January will determine which party controls the upper House, and the results could drastically impact Mr Biden’s ability to turn his policies into action. Opinion polls show the Republicans and Democrats effectively neck-and-neck.
Joe Biden also faces the prospect of dealing with a catastrophic coronavirus situation in the US. However, the end of 2020 brought with it some news that should help: the successful trials of several coronavirus vaccines. November brought a flurry of announcements about remarkable trial results - first from Pfizer, then Moderna, then Oxford / AstroZeneca. Only a few months ago scientists had cautioned it could be a year or more before we saw a vaccine - in the end, it took less than a year. The vaccines swiftly began their passage through the EU and US emergency approval process - by December, it became clear that they could get the green light by the time New Year’s rolled around. Of course, the rollout will be gradual and the logistical challenge will be massive. Here in Ireland, the process began just after Christmas - but it could be the autumn before most people are vaccinated.
Against the backdrop of all this, the EU and UK were frantically attempting to reach a Brexit trade deal before the transition period ended on January 1st. An attempt by the UK government to introduce legislation that would potentially breach international law by overriding parts of the withdrawal agreement made talks particularly tense. But on Christmas Eve, there was finally white smoke - a deal had been reached, with only days to spare. A hard Brexit was averted, but Irish online shoppers will likely face the prospect of extra import fees when ordering from popular UK retailers as Britain has now formally dropped out of the EU entirely.
Return to level five
While the vaccine news was a rare example of good news in a frequently challenging year, December proved a particularly challenging month. In Ireland, the second lockdown was lifted at the start of the months. Shops, restaurants and many cultural institutions were allowed reopen as virus numbers here were among the lowest in Europe. Restrictions would be eased further for Christmas, the Government confirmed, to give people an opportunity to see their families elsewhere in the country.
The easing of restrictions proved to be short-lived. In the days leading up to Christmas, case numbers started rising rapidly - by Christmas itself, they were at record numbers, with hospitalisations also reaching levels that hadn't been seen since April. Officials pointed to a more transmissible strain of the virus that had been detected in the UK having reached Irish shores (despite the Government had taken the unprecedented step of blocking travel to Britain as concerns over the mutant variant intensified in mid-December), as well as many people having large numbers of social contacts over the festive period. In the days before Christmas, the Government confirmed that more restrictions were on the way - gradually being introduced from Christmas Eve onwards. Barely a week later, the situation had worsened again, and Cabinet announced 'full' level five lockdown would be in place through at least January.
Government and health officials haven't ruled out restrictions being extended beyond January, as it remains unclear whether the virus rates can be brought under control by then. A tough few weeks and likely months lie ahead. But there was some positive news, too: on December 29th, Dublin grandmother Annie Lynch became the first person in the Republic to get a coronavirus vaccine.
As Ireland faces the prospect of weeks of lockdown, more doses of the Pfizer vaccine are arriving in the country weekly - and other vaccines look set to be approved shortly as well. The start of 2021 isn't going to be easy, but finally - as the Taoiseach made sure to emphasise during his addresses to the nation in late December - there now appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.
