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ANGER IS MOUNTING in government circles today that ministers and senior officials first heard about the contact tracing issue through the media.
Due to the near-collapse of the contact tracing system, it has also been revealed that a new feature will be announced shortly that will allow a close contact of a confirmed case to arrange their own Covid-19 test online.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil this afternoon that the HSE or Department of Health did not inform him of the problem and that he found out when someone sent him a news article about it.
The HSE is to ask more than 2,000 people who received a positive Covid-19 test result last week to alert their own close contacts that they will need a test due to “unprecedented pressure” on Ireland’s contact tracing system over the past week.
The HSE said it will send a text message today to between 2,000 and 2,500 people who have been informed by text of their infection, asking them to inform their own close contacts that they should restrict their movements and contact their GP “immediately” to arrange a test.
Contact tracers normally contact close contacts of infected cases to arrange for them to be tested.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, the Taoiseach acknowledged this, stating that “without question, the contact tracing dimension of this has come under extreme pressure in recent days and particularly over the weekend”.
Taoiseach said he found out about the problem when he 'got a text last evening' with a link to the Irish Times article.
— Rónán Duffy (@ronanduffy_) October 21, 2020
During Leaders’ Questions today, the leaders of Sinn Féin, Labour and the Social Democrats all raised contact tracing concerns with the Taoiseach.
In response to queries from Alan Kelly about when he was informed about the issue, Martin said that he was only told about it when he received a text message with last night’s Irish Times article.
“I got a text last evening which included the Irish Times article, that’s when I first knew. So I wasn’t informed of this operational measure that the HSE undertook,” he said.
Kelly said it was “extraordinary” that the Taoiseach had found out this way and he wanted to know when the Health Minister was informed.
Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy says she was “absolutely shocked” that the Taoiseach had found out by text.
“This is not a minor deal, you should have been been aware of this, you should have been aware of just how under pressure the system was,” Murphy said.
“You should have been briefed continuously by the Minister for Health, who should have been completely on top of just exactly where and when we were in terms of this process.”
It has been confirmed that Donnelly was not made aware of the situation prior to Cabinet, which met yesterday afternoon and did not discuss the issue, but bigger questions remain as to why he was not informed by the HSE or his department.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Health said: “The decision to ask a limited number of people to alert their own close contacts of their positive result over the past weekend was an operational decision taken by the HSE.”
The spokesperson added that this was to be a “temporary measure”.
“The Minister for Health learned of this operational decision taken by the HSE on Tuesday night. The HSE has reconfigured the call structure to deal with 1,500 positive cases per day this week. The HSE continues to explore ways of improving the testing system. It will shortly introduce a significant new feature which will allow for a close contact to arrange their own Covid-19 test online.”
However, a number of political sources have expressed concern about what would have happened if the story had not been broken by the Irish Times last night, and what plan would have been put in place to tell people who were unaware that they were in contact with someone with Covid-19.
Ministers have serious concerns about the handling of the situation, with one stating they are not sure what happened, but it “isn’t good”.
A number of senior people in government do not think the HSE sending out a text message to people will be adequate, with concerns over putting the responsibility on the person with Covid to get in touch with their contacts. It has been noted that some of the people may be in hospital and may be unable to send text messages to close contacts.
Due to the delay in contacting people, five days have now passed where people could have had a positive test, but those people who have been exposed to the virus haven’t been told.
It is understood that the 2,000 people that will be contacted today could have between 6,000 and 8,000 close contacts in total.
Given these numbers, and the fact that the average close contacts per person are around three people, there are fears among some in government that up to 24,000 to 30,000 people could be impacted in total.
Handling
While it is acknowledged that things can go wrong in a pandemic, how it is handled is key.
Questions are now being asked about why swift action was not taken over the weekend when the contact tracing system began to creak under pressure.
Concerns are also being raised as to why members of the Defence Forces were not brought in at the weekend to aid with the calls, as has been done in the past.
There have been suggestions that a helpline should be set up also as soon as possible to deal with the fallout and concerns of people.
Opposition TDs are also seeking statements from government or the health minister to be made on the matter.
The questions that the government has to get a handle on are: How many people went to school or work over the weekend or yesterday who were close contacts of confirmed cases and didn’t know? When will they all be informed, and how will the HSE ensure everyone is told?
It is understood that answers to these questions will be sought by ministers as a matter of urgency due to concerns it could lead to more outbreaks.
Level 5 restrictions take effect from midnight tonight, meaning that social contacts should be reduced from then on, potentially easing the pressure on contact tracing.
It is understood the decision to send a text message to those people affected was a decision made the HSE, but only communicated to the government after the Irish Times article last night.
While testing capacity is at 120,000 per week, and satisfactory turnaround times, there is bewilderment felt by some that tracing capacity was not ramped up over the summer to deal with the expected rise those presenting for tests.
- With reporting by Rónán Duffy
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Donnelly is not fit for purpose. He should resign with immediate effect.
@Jim Beatty: Yeah that’s right just make everyone resign blah blah at every turn. How about he stays and fixes it, it was a system set up under a different government. Needs fixing. And, it would be the same if any other combination of parties were in power.
@Jim Beatty: doesn’t seem to be his fault. He wasn’t informed until yesterday.
@Bernard Sweeney: it has been one blunder after another with this guy. How long more do you think we should allow him to keep breaking before the ‘fixing process’ kicks in
He is totally out of his depth and well you know it
@Brendan Greene: believing a word out of Stephen Donnellys mouth is just comedy gold
@Jim Beatty:
Can you explain why you think he’s not fit for purpose?
@Jurga Moylan: if it needs to be explained to you after all the fiascos the last few months with this guy, i despair
@Jurga Moylan: Google is your friend
@Aaron: that’s silly. If he was informed by text or email there would be a record so he wouldn’t lie about it.
@Brendan Greene: Brendan, he was warned numerous times by numerous experts that it’s going to collapse if it’s not bolstered. He may not have known the exact date fine, but he knew it was coming and I don’t believe Donnelly didn’t know the exact details. It’s fluff.
@Brendan Greene: informed about the article by text. Doesn’t mean he didn’t know anything about the situation
@Jim Beatty: he’s fairly useless alright but in fairness this was started under the watch of the previous health minister. There’s only been one good health minister in the history of the state and that’s Noel Browne.
@Jim Beatty: Don’t think Donnelly has been appointed CEO of the HSE yet.
@Dave O’Keeffe: like a Judge not listening to news, or reading a paper online or in print.
@Jim Beatty: How much of the spike was due to failures in the contract tracing system – the government have turned us against each other saying we are all at fault but now this has me questioning that the stories of human failings (man coming back on a flight and not isolating) are only the tip of the iceberg compared to lack of adequate contract tracing.
@Bernard Sweeney: despite being set up by a different govt they are literally on an even split this time around and should be together all the way on this so I don’t accept the excuse a different govt set it up.
@Jim Beatty: He should resign? How original! Go and bore off somewhere else!!
@Bernard Sweeney: Agree – fed up with calls for other people’s jobs. Let them sort it out, learn from it and get over it.
@Jim Beatty: So, you can’t then?
@Bernard Sweeney: don’t be so lazy and go do your own research. I am not going to do it for you
@Bernard Sweeney: there’s a little concept called taking the initiative to be informed. It’s fairly well documented that he is useless at the job.
@Jim Beatty: well then u explain it too us then. Were listening!!!
@smart cat: go do your own research and don’t be waiting for the spoon feed
@Brendan Greene: yes but its a long line of cock ups by him, we know for the past 20 years that the HSE is a bloated inefficient organisation that devours money, but who set it up,? Our now bumbling taoiseach!!
@Bernard Sweeney: hello! It was a system set up by his taoiseach!
@Jim Beatty: The fiascos have with us long before him Simon Harris was worse but because he can read a good script this has largely been forgotten and he had years not a couple of months to get it right. Nursing homes, children’s hospital, cervical scandal, treatment of the nurses. Need I continue. I am no fan of Donnelly but he was handed a shit storm with no previous experience. Seems to be a prerequisite now to be a minister. Our govt as a whole are a complete and utter shambles and that includes the last lot in charge as well
@Aaron: Sure,like I said below,every letter from the CMO to Minister for Health cc to Department of the Taoiseach, highlighted the need for adequate contact tracing!You’d think then that questions would be asked re same!
@Brendan Greene: He should have known thats his job. Good grief so many government apologists.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: but let us joe public suffer because of their mistakes.
@Alex Marquis: , absolutely. What he done for TB sufferers was outstanding.
@Jim Beatty: Maybe the senior officials in the HSE need to resign. Our health dept is well funded but the HSE is a complete shambles. But like all public services in this country no one is held to account.
@Lydia McLoughlin: what different government. We still have FFG as we did previously, with added Greens who are asleep anyhow.
@Jim Beatty: and what about Paul Reid CEO of HSE. What’s he been doing for the past six months ? Why didn’t he get rte contact tracing up to speed? And why are HSE issuing Zero Hours contracts to the new contact tracing personnel? Lots of questions and no answers. He needs to go……
@Jurga Moylan: because he is a scurrilous opportunist, not fit for purpose.
He is out of his depth.
Research his background. (Health Minister)
My eye .
This guy needs to resign..asap.
The real problem is that the HSE do not give a single fiddlers’ flute about what anyone thinks.
They are pretty much untouchable and just do as they see fit without having to answer to anyone.
This is also the main reason that our healthcare system eats the extraordinary amounts of cash that it does and shows zero signs of reform – the people at the managerial level just don’t care.
@Dara O’Brien: agree – the hse suffers from gross incompetence and its not just the management, many of the senior doctors apply their personal prejudices without and care for professional standards, particularly neurologists
@Dara O’Brien: Unfortunately this is the case for most state and semi state bodies. Irish Rail another perfect example. Senior politicians are fully aware of this but never have the balls to take action and upset the apple cart. Even opposition leaders don’t point their finger in the right direction.
@Tony Ember: do quantify how many senior doctors apply their personal prejudices without and care for professional standards. And share with us what the personal prejudices are. And explain how this amounts to incompetence.
Wonder how they will blame SF for this one
@Aaron: How am I to blame? :)
@Sean Fallon: you sir win the internet!
@Sean Fallon: YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!
@Sean Fallon: Worry not, they’ll blame FFail first – from another person with awkward initials.
@Tom kenny: thought SF was Systems Failure – that’s what they usually blame it on
All our lives are literally in the hands of this organization and we are supposed to be ok with this ? There are hundreds of thousands of people out of work, some of whom definitely have the skill set to be contact tracers yet the hse haven’t done a damn thing in the last 6 months . I applied , I run a business, I am technically proficient and out of work. I would happily have done it and applied . Nothing back. It’s typical hse , absolute disaster.
@Darren Moore: This is utter incompetence, there are a lot of words to describe it but ” gross incompetence” are the two that cover it without the use off choice angry words
@Darren Moore: Could not agree more. I am in exact same position as applied for a community swabber position at the end of August and completed the Garda vetting (previously worked in aviation so had cleared this already) then absolute radio silence from the HSE. No replies to emails either. Absolute farce
@Darren Moore: Could not agree more. I am in the exact same position as I applied for a community swabber position at the end of August and completed the Garda vetting (previously worked in aviation so had cleared this already) then absolute radio silence from the HSE. No replies to emails either. Absolute farce
@Tom Collins: apparently contract tracers need to have a background in public health! This is what they said when they eventually did look to recruit people. The fact that joe soap can send a text message to their close contacts kind of makes this claim ridiculous!! Anyone who has experienced the HSE recruitment process knows how convoluted and drawn out it is. Like many other aspects of the organisation it needs a complete overhaul.
The HSE and Department of Health follow NPHET’S orders now. Micheal/Leo/Eamon better get used to this. NPHET even have the media on their side should any disagreement regarding Covid policy arise.
@Anna Anna: and a large percent of the public too.
@Anna Anna: In every letter from the CMO to Minister for Health, CMO’s advice also highlighted the need for adequate contact tracing!
The CMO gives Minister for Health the NPHET public health advice,latest stats including Epidemiological Modelling including projections.
The Covid-19 Oversight Group gives Government advice on the economic and social policy.
The Government meets and makes their own decisions.Those are the facts!
Most people are doing their best to adhere to the public health advice and guidelines and appreciate NPHET who are doing their best during this pandemic!
By the way the membership of NPHET include the Department of Health and HSE.
I can’t understand people who constantly undermine NPHET and the public health advice and guidelines!
@Nuala Mc Namara: what is the point of NPHET anymore then It’s the same advice since March, wash hands, 2 metres, sneeze in elbow etc. Every framework that’s been introduced hasn’t worked. No further initiatives or solutions . It’s basically once cases go above 6/700 go into full lockdown or level 5. Okay thanks then, we’ll just do that. No need for a 40 person team to just say the same thing for months. If I go to a doctor for an illness and he gives his solution, I don’t keep going back and pay him to hear the same thing each day.
@John Egan: As you know this virus is transmitted from person to person and Government or NPHET isn’t responsible for the spread of this virus, the public are!
We are given basic public health advice and guidelines to reduce transmission of the virus,while most of us do,some people unfortunately don’t!
NPHET”s membership comprise experts from all areas of health including virology,epidemiology& infectious diseases.
By the way the strategy is to avoid getting Covid-19!
@Nuala Mc Namara: well I think it’s alot easier for NPHET and our goverment to blame the public and point at minorities than address the issues the public have no control over. Such as contact tracing and our healthcare. It’s only in the last month or so they’ve ramped up testing despite WHO saying in March that the way to beat this virus is test and trace. Still don’t know what country were tryin to emulate, still don’t know 1 that’s beat the virus without mast testing, tracing and or shutting their borders.
@Nuala Mc Namara: because free thinking is allowed, never commit yourself to one point of views
@Nuala Mc Namara: if we could all live in a bubble this would be true. But we don’t. People are still working. Students are still going to school. If a case has confirmed. We should trace, isolate, and test close cases. Neither you nor I can do this. It requires a proper contact tracing system. QED.
Its simply not good enough, I’ve locked down once, il lock down twice, but on Dec 1st I will not accept an extension, il wear a mask and protest against it myself in Dublin City if I have to
@David Lee: ooo you’re hard.
@Johnny Sins: Only a person who thinks they’re hard mocks someone else as being hard
@David Lee: did your mother tell you that?
@David Lee: Coronavirus doesn’t care if your upset. It wont go away!
@Eamon Morris: we are locked down for a second time because of NPHET/HSE mismanagement, not coronavirus
@Anna Anna: Absolutely spot on!!
@Eamon Morris: I’m not upset, I’m genuinely frightened for the people being put out of work, places that haven’t contributed to the spread of covid. I’m frightened that Ireland will become an un bearable place to live if the only way to deal with Covid is constant lockdown cycles. Meanwhile we have to sit and watch while other countries have restrictions without draconian stay at home orders
@David Lee: I’ll join you
@David Lee: Do you know anyone in those idyllic countries? Just heard today that the nearest one is running out of hospital staff & beds.
@Johnny Sins: yes, all those people around the world that have made their country better by protesting we’re just being “hard.” Those multiple French revolutions. Just a bunch of hard men? I bet you’re the sort of spineless patriot who thinks of himself as “fighting Irish” on Paddy’s Day. Jesus wept.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: I know many people all around the world, its a tough time for all countries, I know that, but right now I’m the only one out of my international friends being ordered to stay home for at least 6 more weeks, unless I want to exercise within 3 miles of my home. Where is the hope for Irish people after Taoiseach stating 0 covid won’t be pursued?
@Anna Anna: No we are locked down because SOME people don’t adhere to the public health advice and guidelines and the transmission of the virus increases.Its nobody’s fault if they get this virus,the virus looks for opportunities to spread.
It doesn’t help when NPHET and the public health advice and guidelines undermined by some!
@Nuala Mc Namara: cases in schools have doubled this week. Yet nothing being done about it. Stop with all blaming majority of people are adhering to the guidelines.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: yes Italy. They are putting restrictions in place in the areas where cases are rising. Not closing down a whole country. Retail is still open just adjusting opening/closing times. Bars and restaurants are still open till midnight but with table service now from 6pm. What are we doing crippling a whole country and economy at a time when they need it most. When they just might recoup some of their losses.
@Nuala Mc Namara: exactly the amount of people I know harassed for wearing a mask, being told virus isn’t that serious, saying rules are made to be broken, packed pubs in town, illegal sheebeens (leading to cases in the locality), íosa chríost tabharfadh sé an phip duit!
@Franny Ando: I’ve said that majority adhering to the public health advice and guidelines.All it takes is some people not to comply or hold super spreader events and the virus transmission is escalated!
7 months they have had to put in a good system of contact tracing… and look where we are at.
Its so farcical its almost funny
The HSE are answerable to the people of Ireland and hence the government . Heads need to roll in the HSE for this………
Appalling. I’ll stay in Lockdown as requested for the 6 weeks but the HSE and Government need to get their act together
@Corinne Wilson Muller: they will promise “this must never happen again” where have we heard this 100′s of times before, hopeless , their only Laurel and hardy solution is lockdown then sit back until the next time!
How many people wont bother calling their contacts? . And then of they do call and the friend tells them to self isolate, do you tell your boss that my friend told me to self isolate and I wont be in work for a few weeks, how will that go down? I know my boss will want an official email or text from the hse
Just goes to show how little of our country is actually run by the politicians. Senior civil servants are really in charge.
Donnelly may throw in the towel, he is clueless
@Carl:
He is well suited to this government, half arsed, half baked & as thick as a bag of sledgehammers.
Not funny at any level, people should know who they were in contact with and advise then accordingly to self isolate.
@Paul Somers: I did wonder why though it wasn’t up to the person testing positive to get in touch with their contacts in the first place.
@Bernard Sweeney: because they might be worried about you know having the virus.
@Aaron: ?? you mean stigma?
@Bernard Sweeney: No, I mean having the virus and you know being worried about having a potentially deadly virus and you know worrying about your family and you know organizing how you will get your shopping in and what help you need.
Contact tracing that relies on the public to do so will always be a failure, anyone with any knowledge of epidemic suppression will tell you that.
@Bernard Sweeney: contact tracing is supposed to be efficient, accurate and effective, all things an untrained member of the public isnt.
@Bernard Sweeney: It is – to an extent.
Some people who test positive are ill and not in a position to phone all contacts. What about work/school/social settings where the person doesn’t have contact details for all
The HSE has a role. A role for which they have paid. And have failed to deliver. Again.
@EvieXVI: Yes exactly, the onus entirely should not be on the public, we have done our part time and time again and over and over the government are failing to do theirs.
@Aaron: that includes you then. Sorry, didn’t realise I was talking to an expert.
@Bernard Sweeney: It does include me. I’m not an expert and am not trained to efficiently conduct contact tracing. You don’t need to be an expert to realize relying on the public to conduct tracing is a bad idea, you just need a brain.
Here we go again with time spent trying to apportion blame as to who knew what when. Just fix the issue and get back to trying to save lives
There seems to be a stigma around having Covid. There is no way will this work cause people dont want other people knowing they have it. They will probably self isolate but they wont contact everyone. Personally I would but from the few cases I’ve seen in my village people don’t want anyone knowing they have it. This is going to be a disaster. No way will this lockdown end in 6 weeks. Locally here we have shops buying bags of coal to put outside their shop so they are classed essential. I believe Argos have bought in animal feed to stay open. Not sure how true that is. The pup payment is based off your earnings from last year. These shops should have to prove from last years sales they are essential. It’s a joke all round.
@Rocky Jones: What?? A stigma.. Thanks for the most original notion that I’ve read on Corona, even it’s fanciful!
@Rocky Jones: i’d love to know where you get your information. Argos is operating as click and collect only from tomorrow.
@Rocky Jones: don’t know if it’s true? So you’re just spreading random bits of misinformation during a health crisis for the giggles?
Here’s a weird idea, why don’t you do some research before saying anything.
I actually don’t find the HSE asking people to ring their close contacts that big of a deal. There’s 1000+ cases a day.. the amount of admin staff it would take to make them phone calls!
@Clare Rose: the amount of staff that were enlisted at the start of all this (remember put on the green shirt?) and never utilised. We spent millions on freeing up the private hospitals in case of a surge. Where was the preemptive move to bolster contact tracing? You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and it looks like there’s more than a few now.
@Clare Rose: yea but how many wont bother calling. And then of they do call and the friend tells them to self isolate, do you tell your boss that my friend told me to self isolate, how will that go down? I know my boss will want an official email or text.
@Adrian O’Donnell: All of these people need to be paid.. Yes them people signed up in March but who knows who is free now? Where do you even put the staff who are doing contact tracing for over 1000 people per day when normal HSE staff are struggling to find desks? The contact tracing system wasn’t built to deal with this amount of cases and I don’t want to seem like I am defending the Govs response to Covid-19. Just within the HSE, I can completely see why these problems are arising and I don’t think it’s as easy to solve as people think.
@Carl: Would a booking for a test suffice for your boss?
@Clare Rose: listen Clare, countries with multiples of the population of Ireland have systems in place and are ontop of the situation, this is not the 1950s…
@Neil Ryan: they have more admin staff in their health system because of the very fact that they have larger populations
@Clare Rose: does the phrase work from home ring a bell.
Numerous experts have been yelling at the government over the summer that contact tracing will collapse if something isn’t done to bolster it. Saying they didn’t know is ridiculous they just couldn’t be bothered doing a thing about it.
The blame firmly rests with Paul Reid on this one.
Anyone know if they (HSE) explored engaging community groups to assist with the contact tracing effort? Like active OAPs, men’s sheds, Irish Country women society or whoever! Has to be a simple solution to this one would think!!!
Great to see the communication between hse the government and Nphet working so well. They can’t manage it between themselves, its no wonder they re losing public confidence and trust.
I rarely defend HSE but this is being experienced across Europe. NHS’s system is failing completely same even in organised countries like Switzerland where the department responsible is under huge pressure.
The problem here seems to be that governments relied on a call center environment where people have to physically call someone instead of using big data within the apps so that it self manages (ie notifications from device to device). Hopefully they get around to this.
Are you trying to tell us Donnelly, Harris and the cabinet where not aware of this that is why we jumped to level 5 asking the citizens to contact trace there contacts is a joke. HSE and NEPTH as not fit for purpose, they mess up and we pay for it by people losing there lives and there livelihoods.
This government is a disgrace they haven’t a clue what there doing they are putting peoples lives at risk standing by while people lose there jobs think families can live on 350 a week they have to go people have to stand up to them or they’ll be controlling us for ever
The whole thing is an absolute shít show. Communication between all parties involved in “doing the right things for us” is null in void. How are you meant to have faith.
LeoTheLeek
Hows is the Irish Times getting this info from the HSE before the Politicans, NPHET were incorreclty blamed and slammed for leaks and also by Leo.
Phillip Ryan of the Irish Times er co-wrote the LEO book also.
It’s interesting to see that the HSE has such a low opinion of the minister of health.
Shambolic, HSE obviously think they are their own bosses and the minister is just there for show.
HSE don’t give a fook
HSE not fit for purpose, Contract Trace Lean will send you videos of what to do and get to to contact your own GP, hundreds of ex Gardaí retired would be able to trace ex revenue my Granny would do it
This is partly why Ireland is going into lockdown.
The whole lot of them are incompetent including Holohan who thinks the answer is to lockdown every time there is a spike.
@Paul Dolan: not just Holohan. Anyone following the ‘lockdown’ approach is effectively choosing to repeatedly ‘lockdown’ until such time as SARS COV 2 becomes endemic.
As such, there will be various levels of restrictions throughout 2021 and into 2022 (and maybe into 2023). This something An Taoiseach publicly acknowledged yesterday.
My partner applied to become one of the tracers but was rejected because she didn’t have a background in health but now they are asking people to tell their close contacts themselves. Makes a joke of the hiring criteria.
I read recently that contact tracing was at a near collapse… I wonder how many tracers were recruited and trained since March…. And if any requests were made to cabinet for funding etc… Maybe the upset is that this has gone public and they cant control the spin
They heard it through the media…
Why focus on issues that matter and can make a difference – like South Korea did – when they can waste money on a 2nd half-baked lockdown, mobilize again the whole police force, rally media to sing their praises, divide the country, justify extreme measures and try to pass weasel words for hard facts?
The “Resign with immediate Effect” Bus is on its way but is apparently stuck in traffic on the quays. Big Phil is driving it as a tommer and yes he still is furious.
Bloody hell
Steven egg head Donnelly is a pure waste of space, and the ceo of hse Paul Reid who gets paid a six figure salary and has no medical background, who is just a high paid paper pusher who even has his press conferences written for him should be sacked ,a pure waste of space
p@thetic how outdated they are
whomever was on the Contact team has to be fired,then work your way up.Idiocy of Towering Inferno magnitude,seems fictional! Competency obviously not a requirement of employment.Thousands of us would have done a better job because you couldn’t do worse unless you forgot to turn the lights off when leaving!
They couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery
Fix by having competent people in those positions,retaining them will further destroy any faith there was that they know what they’re doing
I would much rather a close contact, get in contact with me first and to be able to book my own test online.
It’s called personal responsibility! I’m a grown adult.
Why are people so upset over this?
It was suggested at the time that the reason Donnelly left the Social Democrats was because he wasn’t able for the workload . He thought he would have an easy ride with Fianna Fáil after its destruction by Ahern/. Cowen. Hes totally incompetent
Of all of the times every “decision maker” HAS to be on the same page and we have to suffer embarrassment after embarrassment.
Sounds as though the HSE got it right. I’d much prefer to get a text, and I’m sure loads of people would.
Ideally I’d like it to come from the official tracker app, not from a random person who might be messing around. But still. Even if you’re up to your eyes, you see a text straight away & can act on it. (Some people who still have a landline &/or play back voice messages might disagree, but messages aren’t saved & texts are there to refer to.)
How do people have so few contacts? an average of 4? I’ve got about 6 at work without counting any family. what are their criteria?
Yes let’s fight each other. …. isn’t that playing to divide and conquer… but hey I.m a sheeple who cares what I say. Lol. Baa baaa baaa.
have your say