He said both the Irish government and public health officials made errors and implemented restrictions that were too strict during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted both the government and NPHET made mistakes during the Covid-19 lockdowns, particularly in an attempt to give people "a meaningful Christmas" in 2020.He said: "Nobody had dealt with a pandemic before of this nature. I think in the round all of us involved in making those decisions, whether it was HSE, or NPHET or Department of Health or Government made the right decision most of the time.
"NPHET proposed proposed one form of reopening, which would have meant a lot of social interactions and private houses. "We were slow to uptake masks. We were slow to uptake antigen tests. The final Omicron up did lockdown was probably not necessary. I think schools were closed for too long, particularly special schools.
The Taoiseach also said he owed former CMO Dr Tony Holohan an apology after he claimed NPHET's Level Five advice "wasn't thought through" during an interview on Claire Byrne Live. "I was very angry at the time, the way the advice from NPHET had changed very dramatically overnight, that government wasn't consulted, that it was briefed to media before the government was informed, which I know a lot of us in government were very frustrated at.
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