A leading doctor is calling for the establishment of a cross-party Emergency Cabinet to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
It comes after the number of confirmed cases on the island of Ireland rose to 22.
Yesterday, five new cases were confirmed in the Republic, along with one more in the North.
Professor Sam McConkey from the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons said Ireland’s response so far “has been like a small mouse facing an elephant.”
“We haven’t got into the really sweeping, all of society, all of industry, all of Government response that is needed to deal with this,” he said.
He said he views the outbreak as “the biggest challenge to the functioning of our State that we have ever seen. “This is a very, very big national emergency and there is a suite of about 20 or 30 very dramatic actions that we could take as a people to fix it.
He said the response requires a “strong, powerful central government”
“It will require cross-party support,” he said. “As in the leaders of five or six of the biggest parties coming together in an Emergency Cabinet to lead us through this COVID-19 emergency.”
Speaking last night, the country’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said the risk of contracting the virus in Ireland still remains low.
He said officials are able to explain the transmission of all but one of the 18 cases diagnosed in the Republic.
