Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Fraser. He will recall that in October 2020 there was what was perceived by some people, and some in the media, as something of a stand-off between the Government and NPHET as to whether there would or would not be another lockdown. The Tánaiste made a much-commented-on appearance on the Claire Byrne show. Suddenly, notwithstanding this stand-off, some would say the Government caved while others would say it just accepted the public health advice, and there was a lockdown. In December 2020 and at the start of 2021, the Government differed from the advice of NPHET and many blamed it for the fact that people socialised and so forth, as people usually do at Christmas. Was there a feeling in the Department of the Taoiseach, or did Mr. Fraser as the most senior civil servant there discern any concern, that there was a type of erosion of the authority of democratic government or that it was somehow being challenged by NPHET, whose role ordinarily would be to advise the Government but which instead was essentially telling the Government in public what to do? Was there any concern about that or did Mr. Fraser discern any concern in the Department of the Taoiseach about that unusual inversion of authority in a democratic state?