Ministers ruff led by Holohan tweets

CMO’s anger over street gatherings irks political masters

A BREACH in the fragile truce between the Government and Tony Holohan emerged in the wake of the chief medical officer’s outburst on social media criticising crowds gathering in Dublin.

Last Saturday night Dr Holohan tweeted he was ‘absolutely shocked’ as large crowds gathered in Dublin city-centre. He described the scenes of ‘enormous crowds’ as being like ‘a major open-air party’.

However, his comments did not go down well with some Cabinet members.

The relationship between the Government and the straighttalking chief medical officer has oscillated between warm and cold. But as the country tentatively emerges from lockdown, a cold war has broken out between the pugnacious CMO and his political masters.

One minister told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘There is a real sense

‘He nearly drove the nation mad’

that Tony has become somewhat over-mighty. He believes in his own publicity somewhat too much, certainly for his good.’

Another Cabinet member angrily said of his intervention on social media: ‘He nearly derailed the relaunch of the economy on his own... it was unfair.

‘Tony sometimes forgets that he is a functionary. He seems to think that he is a Department of State.’

Another minister told the MoS: ‘Holohan should have considered the old wartime advice about discretion. Or in modern terms, think before you tweet.’

Another minister said: ‘Something is out of kilter when a nation is left hanging on Saturday night tweets. He nearly drove the nation mad.

‘There is a sense that Tony has served his purpose, that, while we are all very grateful, it is time for him to retreat back into the shadows. The age of coronavirus is over.’

Another Cabinet member said: ‘He needs to contain his Twitter trigger finger. He is living in a postcoronavirus age.’

‘There are plenty in NPHET [National Public Health Emergency Team]... looking to the future, to build careers with or without Tony. They don’t want to be dealing with unhappy politicians.’

One Cabinet member backed Higher Education Minister Simon Harris’s refusal to publicly condemn the crowds of people who gathered in the capital centre last weekend.

One source warned: ‘Harris got it right with his attack on the finger waggers. He has caught the mood. The politicians are tuned into the public. They know that the end of tolerance with lockdown has arrived.’

Fine Gael TD John Paul Phelan told the MoS: ‘The inconvenient truth is that most people have tired of the NPHET story, they have had enough of the lecturing, they are saying we will make our own decisions thank you.’

One Cabinet source said NPHET is ‘facing a downgrade’, adding: ‘It is time for them to return to their desks in the back-office of the Department of Health.

‘It is time for the soldiers to put their swords in their scabbards and retire from the front...

‘The country has reached a moment of nuance where the best thing, for most people that could happen, is to not hear from Doctor Tony for a year.’

However, the CMO, who remains a popular figure with the wider public, is not without his supporters within Cabinet. One minister told the MoS: ‘He is a person of influence: people listen to him. He is informed.

‘People should remember that while he can be a “Doctor No”, the old advice about holding the hand of the nurse for fear of finding something worse still holds. It would be unwise to think we are fully out of the woods yet.’

A Fianna Fáil minister added: ‘I wouldn’t be getting rid of him too fast. He is perfect for sending out with bad news. If we had him 10 years ago during austerity, we would have fared much better.

‘When its safe we can send him home, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet.’