Failure to take charge of Covid now will damage business even more long term

A letter from Arnold Carton:
By Letters
Published 30th Nov 2021, 12:08 BST
Updated 30th Nov 2021, 12:11 BST
A deserted Belfast city centre back in January of this year. To avoid another lockdown we need leadershipA deserted Belfast city centre back in January of this year. To avoid another lockdown we need leadership
A deserted Belfast city centre back in January of this year. To avoid another lockdown we need leadership

I want to say clearly that I don’t want another lockdown, I want our business sector to do well, I want a situation where all restrictions such as mask wearing and social distancing can be removed. But everyone wants this and expressing these desires doesn’t make me or anyone else a good leader; it achieves nothing, unless I am an ambitious politician who wants to be the next First Minister, in which case claiming to be a ‘friend of business’ might win me some votes.

One of the problems with having an election in six months is that what is good for politicians is not necessarily good for the country; it is often easier for a politician to say what his electorate want to hear, rather than to alert them to a difficult reality.

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The irony is that a failure to properly take charge of the Covid crisis now will be even more damaging to business in the long term.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

When we need leadership most, we often end up with wishful thinking and empty phrases about supporting business, with decisions delayed. Unfortunately, as we found out last year, this tends to lead to chaos with businesses purchasing stock, only to have it wasted as lockdowns become inevitable.

With our NHS overstretched and the likelihood of major problems over winter, we need to see our Stormont executive working together and leading our people out of this crisis.

Once the executive decide on a set of restrictions or actions the worst thing that any minister could do is set about undermining public support for those measures, but sadly that is what we have seen over this weekend from some DUP ministers.

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The evidence of the significant increase in demand for 1st Dose vaccinations (10,000 last week) is almost definitely a direct result of the Covid Certification scheme and will help prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.

Next May the public will not look back kindly on those politicians who seem to be putting political advantage ahead of the welfare of our citizens.

Arnold Carton, Belfast BT6

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Related topics:First MinisterBen LowryNHSDUPNorthern Ireland