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Government Have Created Battle Royale Of Professions

The government have taken a sharp turn on their often winding and bumpy COVID journey, by completely restructuring the latter stages of the COVID vaccine roll-out plan. Now rather than vaccinating professionals on the basis of their jobs, which is a major contributing factor when it comes to health risks, the Fianna Fáil / Fine Gael / Greens Government have simplified the plan, meaning it will now be structured according to age.

It was something that I had previously put out into the world of social media, which received a variety of responses, and which I will put to you readers here. Should a forty-something year old working from home, be prioritised over a twenty-something year old working on the front line?

The government’s answer to that question is a resounding ‘No’, according to their new vaccine roll-out plan, which will see such a situation occur. But rather than joining forces, whether personally or through unions, it seems that people are turning against each other, and as is usually the case, teachers are bearing the brunt of the criticism.

Along with people working in transport, particularly bus and train drivers, teachers for some reason attract what some may go as far as to describe as sheer hatred from the public. Why? I haven’t a clue. I myself had planned to be a teacher some years ago; I worked for six months on teaching practice in a secondary school, I spent two summers in the Gaeltacht, and spent a summer correcting exams, it isn’t easy.

If anything, lockdowns should have taught us to value teachers, not berate them at every opportunity. But why are we berating them at all? It’s because of an often subconscious hierarchy of professions that many of us hold, and what we consider to be a value to society.

Rather than getting into theoretical sociology, asking ourselves why we value some professions more than others (you can in your spare time if you like), we should focus on those in charge, the government, and with particular reference to teachers, Minister for Education Norma Foley. Following lengthy discussions with teachers before the reopening of schools, kids finally got back into the classroom.


                                        Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD

But this agreement was reached with the knowledge that frontline workers (including teachers) would be prioritised over those working from home or unemployed, except of course for those with health conditions. Now having returned to work, they are now told that they will not be prioritised, and that age will be the only factor taken into consideration.

They are rightly annoyed with this backtracking, likely caused by the government’s inability to roll out their own plan, and should be supported along with all frontline workers. That includes retail workers, Gardaí, the Defence Forces, the Agriculture Sector, and so on.

This moving of the goalposts has indicated to the public that re-opening our economy is no longer the priority, and that all of our frontline government workers will have to just accept the government’s round of applause as their only reward; no vaccines, no pay rise, no gratitude. Let us remind ourselves that while teachers are getting criticised for wanting to be vaccinated after they had returned to work with that promise, that there have been numerous cases of ‘Jabs for the boys’, and the Irish Government is falling far short of their target of having the country re-opened in the summer due to poor management of their own plan.

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