‘The country is depressed’ – Dr. Feeley calls for debate on restrictions
by Gript News published on September 30, 2020
Dr. Martin Feeley has said that a “debate” is needed on the government imposed restrictions which aim to suppress the spread of the coronavirus.
The former clinical director of Dublin Midlands Hospital Group was speaking on Prime Time last night where he claimed there were unquantifiable costs associated with locking down parts of the country.
“The cost to the community financially and socially is enormous and one of the difficulties with this is that we cannot measure those costs.
“The cost side is abstract. I cannot put a number on it.
“But I can tell you the mood of the people is depressed, the mood of the country is depressed and what I am suggesting is, or what I am asking really is, and I really am asking, I would like debate,” he said.
Dr Martin Feeley was forced to resign from his HSE post several weeks ago after criticizing the restrictions that NPHET and the government had proposed.
“I would like people to consider this and say, can we allow young people, young working people, people with businesses, people with mortgages to pay, can we allow them to live a life, rather than just exist a life?”
Dr. Feeley also claimed Covid-19 is “not much worse than the seasonal flu” for those who are not overweight and under 65.
“We discovered that in effect, if you’re under 65 if you have no other illnesses or diseases and in particular, if you are not overweight – and this seems to upset people but this is a fact – if you don’t have conditions and are not overweight, your risk from this disease not negligible by any means but it’s not much worse than what we call the seasonal flu, that’s for that age group.
“It’s only for that group of people that I’m saying that this disease is not much worse than the seasonal flu,” Feeley said.
“That’s an established fact about the viralness and the lethality of this virus. That’s the majority of the Irish population, particularly the working population.”
Opposing Professor Sam McConkey’s suggestion that Ireland should prepare for several more months of restrictions, Dr. Feeley said it was time someone spoke up for the young people that would be affected.
“The cost of all this and the damage it is doing to our children, to our youth, our young people who are already worried enough about where they’re going in their lives, hard to get a job, hard to get an education.
“The people who are losing their jobs, the people who are losing their salaries, can’t pay their mortgages, now really someone has to talk for those people.”
