OPINION: Leadership by example urgently needed
‘The whole world’s in a terrible state of chassis’ declares Boyle to Joxer in Sean O’Casey’s ‘Juno and the Paycock’.
Or words to that effect. This country was in a state of chassis a century ago when those words are meant to have been uttered. This weekend, the world again does seem to be is a state of chassis.
A week ago, the President of the United States of America was making little of his opponent in the current presidential race for wearing a mask against coronavirus, and generally acting like a petulant child. Then came the remarkable news over the weekend that the POTUS and his wife had tested positive for the virus, as had many of his staffers. He was transferred to hospital, and after a couple of days, discharged, and on Monday evening, parades back, maskless into the White House.
On Sunday evening, here at home, the National Public Health Emergency Team, with its Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan back in situ, meets and sends a letter to the government indicating that the country needs to go into a Level 5 full lockdown mode again for a ‘circuit break’ attempt at curtailing the growing virus numbers in this country. The fact that this letter was circulated to the media did not go down well with the Government, with Tanaiste Varadkar saying that it had been sprung on them. There were lots of other factors to be considered, and consultation should have occurred first, he added, showing tensions between the bodies. The Taoiseach on Monday night announced that the entire country would move to Level 3. Meanwhile, one of our esteemed Supreme Court judges still doesn’t understand what he did wrong by attending the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner a day after the Government announced that such gatherings should not take place during the battle to flatten the pandemic curve.
Astonishing transcripts of Seamus Woulfe’s submissions to former Justice Denham’s report into his actions, and the report itself, show just how out of touch this man is with the reality of what is going on around him.
In a barrage against the media and the Government, he treated the situation he found himself in like a legal case, giving no consideration to the optics. While the country had sacrificed so much over such a long period of time, he felt it was acceptable to attend a dinner of 80 people in an enclosed space, and had the subsequent arrogance to say he didn’t notice that there was a divider in the room because he was tired and was chatting, and had had a few glasses of wine.
Even his attendance at the event in the first place as a judge prompts questions about his own judgement. It was on the prompting of his wife that he actually asked the Chief Justice if it was right for him to attend. In sporting circles, the GAA has had to put a stop to its club activities – which many feel should never have restarted – as clubs clearly couldn’t follow required guidelines and refrain from hosting gatherings around matches – the very reason the Government didn’t want to allow major GAA events proceed in the first place.
With the world in such a state of chassis at the moment, is it too big an expectation to ask for leadership from those who are supposed to be setting an example?