OPINION: After dealing well with Covid-19, the Ukraine invasion sees us facing a truly enormous crisis

THIS was the week when we were supposed to mark – even celebrate – our emergence from the Covid-19 pandemic. Inevitably that would be somewhat muted anyhow as we remember those we lost to the virus over the past two years and, indeed, those we couldn’t say a proper goodbye to because of restrictions.

It was why this St Patrick’s Day events were extended to two back-to-back public holidays on March 17 and 18 of this week which, inevitably, will be extended to include Saturday and Sunday next. As the first St Patrick’s Day we could mark appropriately since 2019, all seemed set for a major fest.

That was the intent. That was why March 18 was designated as a public holiday for this year and this year only, primarily as a thank you to our heroic health care workers. Next year the public holiday will be on the first Monday in February.

But it is hard to celebrate against the background of ongoing murderous slaughter in Ukraine.

Yet, here at home, there is much to celebrate. We owe a major thank you to our medical, public health, and – yes – political leadership too which saw to it that Ireland has recorded one of the lowest rates of excess deaths in the world in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Excess deaths in the context refers to the difference between the number of recorded deaths from all causes and the number expected based on usual trends. The new study provides the first checked estimates of excess deaths due to the pandemic in 191 countries.

In Europe only Iceland and Norway performed better than Ireland for excess deaths due to the virus. Such has been the finding of this first global estimate of excess deaths due to Covid and published in The Lancet medical journal.

Between January 1s 2020 and December 31 last, Ireland lost 5,910 people to Covid. (As of March 11 – last Friday – that figure was 6, 611, of 1.34 million Irish people who contracted the virus).

Ireland’s estimated excess mortality rate over that period was 12.5 per 100,000 people, a fraction of the 131.8 recorded in Northern Ireland and 125.8 in England.

The survey also found that the global death toll in the pandemic may have been over three times higher than official records.

That official world-wide Covid-19 death toll was 5.9 million for the period between January 1, 2020 and December 31 last. The global study estimates however that the real figure was 18.2 million excess deaths over the same period.

So hats off to all who made it possible for Ireland have had such a comparatively 'good' pandemic, but in particular to the Irish people themselves who, despite our well-earned reputation for doing our own thing, buckled down when it mattered and behaved in the better interest of all.

And, yes, we are not clear to the virus yet as infection rates are on the rise again. However, despite this, the severity this time appears much less with ICU rates in particular continuing to drop. It was inevitable that after restrictions were lifted there would be a spike in infection rates, something that is also likely to follow this week’s events too.

It is hardly fair that as we emerge from this life-shaking pandemic which will have long-term consequences for the health of some and the work practices of many, that we should be confronted so soon with another crisis of enormous proportions. I refer, of course, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Lest we wallow in the unfairness of this – timing wise, particularly – we might reflect how catastrophic it is for the people of that benighted country, which is also dealing with the pandemic. About 36% of its people are fully vaccinated.

Ireland’s response to Ukraine’s calamity has been as generous as it is typical, and we should be proud of that. In particular it was heartening and impressive to hear Taoiseach Micheal Martin’s response in a BBC interview last Sunday, when asked if security checks have been conducted on Ukrainian refugees coming to Ireland.

This was in a context where, by last Sunday, Britain had issued just 1,000 visas to Ukrainian refugees.

Explaining that Ireland had so far accepted 5,500 people fleeing Ukraine, the Taoiseach said “our primary impulse is to assist those fleeing war.” Ireland's priority was a humanitarian response to what he termed “the worst displacement of people since World War II”.

The Irish people were “very seized by the series of atrocities that are going on, what we are witnessing on our screens is really shocking people and there’s huge human empathy there,” he said.

Last week, and to no one’s great surprise in Ireland, it was confirmed that Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel had contacted the Dublin Government to raise security concerns about the number of people Ireland was accepting from Ukraine and the risk that they could enter Northern Ireland.

She, it was said, was concerned the refugees might include Russians who would be a risk to Britain’s security.

As we know, Ms Patel has form when it comes to immigration issues generally. She also has form when it comes to Ireland, having suggested in 2019 during Brexit debates that Britain should threaten Ireland with food shortages if Dublin did not drop demands for a backstop. “Been there, you’ve done that,” we could have responded.

This appalling woman’s parents were themselves immigrants from Uganda, who arrived in Britain during the 1960s.

We don’t have to care about her or her Government on this issue, thankfully. Our response to the invasion of Ukraine is in line with that of our EU partners.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney told a Dail Committee last week “let me be very clear, in relation to what’s happening in Ukraine, we are not neutral. In fact we are actively funding and supplying equipment to the Ukrainian military to help them defend themselves and the civilians in their country. We have chosen to take sides in that regard because we believe that Russian aggression is not only illegal and inconsistent with the UN charter but is also something that Ireland needs to morally take a stand on.”

Ireland had contributed €11 million to the European peace facility for Ukrainian defence, he said, and “we’re also looking to see what actual gear we can provide as well,” he said. There was “some military defence equipment that might be useful,” he said, “and we’ll get it to Ukraine as quickly as we can.”

As regards Ukraine’s EU membership, he said “Ireland is a strong supporter of fast tracking that process and getting Ukraine formally designated as an applicant country.”

He also told the Dail Foreign Affairs Committee that this year Ireland “will mark this St Patrick’s Day with solidarity rather than celebration and we express our Irish identity by rededicating ourselves to democratic and humanitarian values.”

He continued that “in fact one of the tangible things we are doing this year is to look at using our greening programme to actually project the Ukrainian colours in parts of the world where we think that solidarity would be respected and appreciated instead of projecting green onto major symbols and buildings around the world.”

So, instead of being bathed in green this year, some of the world’s most recognisable buildings/symbols will be bathed in the blue and gold of Ukraine, at Ireland’s request.