84% of Cork City councillors don't agree with mandatory Covid vaccination
We polled all the city’s elected representatives on whether or not they would support mandatory Covid vaccination.
The majority of Cork City councillors are opposed to making Covid vaccination mandatory in Ireland, with just two of 31 councillors saying they were in favour of such a measure.
Following the news that the Department of Health is to produce a paper on mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations, Tripe + Drisheen asked all 31 Cork City councillors if they would be in favour of making a Covid vaccine mandatory.
Some other EU countries have introduced vaccine mandates above and beyond restrictions on those without a digital vaccine pass, with varying levels of punitive measures for those who remain unvaccinated, including plans to issue €3,600 fines for any unvaccinated person above 14 years of age in Austria, and a workplace ban for unvaccinated over-50s in Italy.
Protests against mandatory vaccination or punitive measures against unvaccinated people have taken place in several European cities.
However, the results of our poll show little political appetite at a local level in Cork city for similar hardline measures in Ireland.
The opinions of the majority of councillors echoed those of Micheál Martin, who said he favoured vaccinations being voluntary while speaking in Ballyphehane in Cork city this week.
We phoned and texted all 31 Cork city councillors and asked:
“Are you in favour of introducing mandatory Covid vaccination in Ireland?”
Respondents were given the option of answering “Yes,” “No,” or “Not willing to comment,” and further given the option of giving a quote to appear in the article.
Three councillors in total, one Independent, one Fianna Fáil and one Fine Gael councillor, were uncontactable by phone or text or had not responded by time of publication. 26 councillors told us they were opposed to making the Covid vaccine mandatory and two councillors said they were in favour of it.
Most said that, while they were in favour of vaccination and thought that Ireland’s high vaccination rate should be a source of pride, a mandate would be the wrong approach, with many expressing the concern that it would be counterproductive and may further entrench the beliefs of those who remain unvaccinated.
Cllr John Sheehan, the GP and Fianna Fáil Cork North-West councillor who was Lord Mayor in 2020 at the beginning of the Covid crisis, said he believed a Covid vaccine should be mandatory for healthcare workers, but not in the general population.
“There’s a balance between people’s rights and choices and mandatory vaccination is not the right approach, outside of for healthcare workers,” he said. “I’m a GP myself and healthcare workers have to take a Hepatitis B vaccine too, for example. But in the broader population I think mandatory vaccination would be a retrograde step. We have had a very good uptake in Ireland and I think the energy should be focused on walk-in clinics and other measures that increase uptake.”
Several other councillors also expressed support for mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers.
However, all Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Green Party, Independents and minority parties across all electoral areas citywide responded that they were not in favour of vaccine mandates for the broader population.
Two Fine Gael councillors said that they were in favour of mandatory vaccination, but only Cllr Derry Canty (FG) from the South-West electoral area was willing to give us a comment.
He said he felt making the Covid vaccine mandatory was “the best option for us because a lot of people are afraid to go out, because they are not sure who is vaccinated and who isn’t. They’re afraid they’ll get the virus. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but this is a pandemic and we need to pull together. Anyone who can get it should have it.”
What did your local elected representatives say?
Here are some other comments, by electoral area: some but not all councillors wanted to be quoted.
Cork City South-East
Cllr Kieran McCarthy, IND: “I would be for voluntary vaccination to continue, with a caution that there currently is no regular forum in local government to discuss the vaccine methodology, or bringing in HSE vaccination experts to engage with the City Hall executive or public representatives.”
Cllr Lorna Bogue, IND: “My thinking is that obviously you want to encourage as many people as possible to get vaccinated and generally people respond better when they engage with something voluntarily. Obviously I would prefer everyone in Ireland to be vaccinated, but there are parts of the world where people haven’t received a single dose yet. The issue is we should be working on is having generic vaccines produced and distributed across the world. Looking at 5% of the adult population of Ireland is small fry in terms of the Irish state’s role in protecting medicine patents and preventing other countries from accessing them.”
Cllr Des Cahill, FG: “I would encourage people to get vaccinated if they haven’t already, but I do recognise that it is a choice.”
Cork City South-West
Cllr Colette Finn, Green Party: “I’m strongly in favour of vaccination, having seen infant meningitis all but eradicated through vaccination. The question is, how do we get the maximum number to take it? I think we have high levels of trust in our vaccination programme, and I think we should work on that.”
Cllr Fergal Dennehy, FF: “I think to contemplate it would be a great breach of people’s liberty, and extremely unpopular. I can’t see it happening. I can’t speak for those above in Dáil Éireann, but certainly at a local level, I think I am probably in the majority here.”
Cllr Colm Kelleher, FF: “I can see there may be advantages for quelling and killing the virus; in the words of Star Trek, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I’m fully vaccinated and boostered and I’m pro-vaccine, but at the same time, who am I to dictate to someone else what to do to their body?”
Cllr Eolan Ryng, SF: “I’m not against vaccination – when it was voluntary the uptake was phenomenal and a testament to the good sense of the Irish people. I’d be very cautious around making something like that mandatory. I think it would feed negative agendas and it might be counter-productive and cause unnecessary division.”
Cllr Thomas Moloney, IND: “I don’t think people should be forced to do something. All we can do is battle the misinformation. I would encourage people to get vaccinated but I don’t think we can force people to take any substance against their wishes. There are a lot of people who have thought they were not getting vaccinated on principle and that principle has gone out the window when they see someone they love getting sick; I’ve seen that happen myself.”
Cork South-Central
Cllr Seán Martin, FF, Cork South-Central: “90% of me says no and 10% says yes; as of now, you’d say no, but you never know where you stand with this thing. Hopefully things will continue to improve.”
Cllr Dan Boyle, Green Party: “I am not in favour of a mandatory vaccine but I do favour the use of certs to restrict access to places for those who have chosen not to take the vaccine. We are all free to choose but our actions have consequences sometimes.”
Cork City North-West
Cllr Damien Boylan, FG: I’d be against mandatory vaccinations as I think the uptake through voluntary acceptance has gone so well.”
Cllr Kenneth Collins, SF: “Everyone has a right to their own decision-making when it comes to vaccines, and how would you police it becoming mandatory?”
Cllr Mick Nugent, SF: “It might be something you’d have to look at if we had a very low take-up of vaccinations, but we have a very good buy-in from most people. I think it would be counter-productive when you have a huge take-up and that it’s the wrong messaging altogether. What would they hope to achieve by making it mandatory? Wouldn’t the priority be trying to make schools safe? There’s a percentage of people who don’t want to take it. You’d be hoping they would, but it’s their decision to make. Also, it’s not clarified if it would be mandatory across all age-groups, and that would be of concern to some people.”
Cllr Fiona Ryan, PBP-Solidarity: “At this stage, focus must be on expanding our healthcare systems capacity, something which the government has been incredibly remiss on. All efforts should be made to engage with people who have fears as a result of the wild misinformation out there, but mandates will not assist with that.”
Cork City North-East
Cllr Oliver Moran, Green Party: "I don't think the furore of a vaccine mandate would be worth it. Ireland already has the second highest uptake in the EU. Everybody who would receive a vaccine is receiving it. If someone hasn't already, I'd encourage them to. It’s so easy to do and there are so many options available to people."
Cllr Ted Tynan, Worker’s Party: “I’d be slow to accept it being mandatory; I think persuasion and education are the best way forward. It could lead to an awful lot of aggression and we’re seeing that in other European cities at the moment, with violent protests.”
Cllr John Maher, Labour: “We’re doing well at the moment with people getting them on a voluntary basis. Let’s continue with the rollout and go from there.”
Cllr Kenneth Flynn, IND: “There are several problems with mandating vaccinations. First of all, it directly contravenes patient autonomy. Secondly, it can lead to further deprivation and isolation of groups of people in the community; these groups become hotbeds for the diseases we can vaccinate against and can become a health hazard for the broader community. The ideal way is to persuade people via education.”