Lunatic Aoife McLysaght appointed Science Advisor to Government

Shan Doras

Lunatic vaccine denier Aoife McLysaght, who claimed things could never return to normal after covid, and that masking had to become permanent even for 4 year olds in Junior infants has been appointed Science Advisor to the Government of Ireland. https://archive.ph/kso8V

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058373828/lunatic-aoife-mclysaght-appointed-science-advisor-to-government

I have no idea what "vaccine denier" is. Could you please explain?

But from the article you posted.

 This isn’t something any of us feels in our daily lives, yet we have successfully eliminated the otherwise endemic measles virus from Ireland through a combination of a population vaccination programme and well-resourced public health monitoring and containment. For Covid this would additionally include air-quality standards (with the added bonus of being effective no matter the variant and no matter the airborne disease) – and who doesn’t like fresh air?

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708196#Comment_122708196

A Vaccine denier is someone who refused to take the Vaccine and listened to conspiracys like its a way to control us etc.

plodder

The OP and title are nuts, but the linked article hasn't aged very well. We are living with Covid and it is endemic.

Shan Doras

No. In this context, a vaccine denier is Aoife McLysaght , someone who was still calling for masking and lockdowns in 2022, despite the roll out of the vaccine.

ancapailldorcha

Is there a point here? Sounds like the OP just doesn't like this person.

A quick google shows that she's a Professor of Genetics at Trinity. Sounds more than qualified, honestly.

SeanW

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708304#Comment_122708304

I remember that time alright. During 2021, England and I think Wales abandoned the mask rules in most contexts, bringing them back only for a short time when the first Omicron variants began to emerge.

I do agree with the OP that anyone pushing mask rules more restrictive than those of England, shouldn't have an appointment anything like this.

Enduro

I'm guessing the OP's point derives from the fact that she is/was a prominent member of ISAg, which pushed a very extreme response to COVID-19. I can't see what the anti-vax point is, though. They are all in favour of Vaccines, so the Vaccine denier thing is made up by the OP.

28064212

Aoife McLysaght, who claimed things could never return to normal after covid

…

The Government has not taken the evidence-based decisions that could have had us living without the endless daily burden of Covid restrictions.

Straight from the article the OP posted, directly contradicting the OP's claim. Either the OP didn't read it, didn't understand it, or they lied and hoped no-one else would read it

Geuze

She seems odd.

TokTik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708432#Comment_122708432

A professor of genetics who believes a man can become a woman and vice versa. Looney tune.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708239#Comment_122708239

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708304#Comment_122708304

That clears that up. 🙄

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708733#Comment_122708733

I can see the point the poster was trying to make. McLysaght wanted enduring COVID measures/restrictions therefore she was denying the efficacy of the vaccine.

Most people use vaccine denier to me something completely different. Myself included.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708763#Comment_122708763

McLysaght wanted enduring COVID measures/restrictions therefore she was denying the efficacy of the vaccine.

Which Covid measures/restrictions?

From reading the article she suggests public vaccination programs and cleaner air?

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708584#Comment_122708584

2. is a bit nuts. It's a kind of progressive conspiracy theory that has been repeated many times on this site. I'd put it up there with vaccine denial.

Nermal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708804#Comment_122708804

Have a read through https://www.isagcovid19.org/archive if you want a trip down a shrill, scaremongering memory lane. None of these people should be anywhere near government.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708877#Comment_122708877

No thanks, lets stick to the topic and subject of the thread.

She has been accused of being anti vax or a vax denier. Whatever the fúck that is.

I have asked several times already for proof of this?

SeanW

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708896#Comment_122708896

The OP explained their usage of the term in Post 5. I don't agree with it, but this so-called "Science Advisor" sounds like an absolute nutcase.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708925#Comment_122708925

Ya I responded to it.

The opinion citied is from mid 2021.

So no nothing has been explained.

conorhal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708868#Comment_122708868

Between this ideological fruit-loop and Dr Ebun Joseph being appointed as a 'special Rapporteur for the National Plan Against Racism, it feels like the government are just trolling the public at this point….

OscarMIlde

She was one of my lecturers in undergrad. Absolutely lovely, really intelligent and interesting and 100% not a lunatic. Granted that would have been a long time ago but I can't imagine her personality doing a complete 180.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122709081#Comment_122709081

Are you sure?

Because some lad on the internet who didn't read or understand the opinion piece they linked to thinks she is a lunatic?

SpoonyMcSpoon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708942#Comment_122708942

Roderic O’Gorman as minister for children; Simon “18 covids before covid 19” as minister for health. Irish people will continue to get what they deserve for being so tolerant and not being forceful enough to demand better from elected officials and those on the public payroll.

SpoonyMcSpoon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122709081#Comment_122709081

Unfortunately it seems like those in academia really got sucked up into the social media algorithms of the last ten years and operate in some sort of bubble. They have always been out of touch with general society given the nature of their work but it seems so many people in academia, based on their prominent social media posting, jump like lemmings onto the trending social media cause. I genuinely don’t believe these woke people are bad people, just misguided and even mislead by malicious social media algorithms. So I don’t disagree that Aoife was and could be still a lovely person; people should realise by now that social media posts have no context and do not tell anything about the poster. In general, even those that seem quite vocal on social media, are not anywhere near like that in real life. Most people are generally nice people.

Hangdogroad

Is op trying to suggest she's an anti-vaxer?

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122711230#Comment_122711230

Apparently McLysaght was a 'vaccine denier' because she was keen to maintain covid restrictions after the vaccine became available…

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122711238#Comment_122711238

Also much of that care was simply for the fact that we were in unknown territories in terms of what was coming. I think some posters have developed a long term infatuation with COVID figures.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708304#Comment_122708304

This is nonsense. There is no meaningful sense of the word "vaccine denier" in which it applies to Aoife McLysaght.

If you have to resort to such mis-use of language, it is pretty clear your claims are without foundation or merit.

Here is a direct quote:

Mike Ryan always talks sense- the vaccines alone don’t solve this. We need comprehensive public health procedures like in Australia and New Zealand.

She seems to be more in the Zero Covid space, and of course it is one thing to disagree with such an approach, but there is simply no good faith reading of that that = "vaccine denier".

https://twitter.com/aoifemcl/status/1375949232197210117

 https://x.com/aoifemcl/status/1375949232197210117

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708196#Comment_122708196

This thing about the importance of air quality standards was a massive learning from covid which has still not been implemented. I would hope she will raise the need for this at every opportunity going forward until something is done about it.

It would be a game changer when it comes to public health and could really reduce the need for lockdowns when the next pandemic hits.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122711238#Comment_122711238

That doesn't make any sense.

Reading the article which no one seems to have, she wanted Covid in the long run to be mitigated, namely public vaccination programs and better air quality in buildings. She cited measles.

That is not vaccine denial.

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122711380#Comment_122711380

I was surprised to learn that current building standards seem to be resulting in lower air quality in new houses compared to existing stock. Ventilation standards appear to be totally inadequate considering how air tight the typical modern A-rated house is expected to be. There is likely to be a big problem with mould and resulting illnesses in many of these houses.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122711380#Comment_122711380

Yes, spot on .

This particular article was talking about the need for improved air quality in schools and public buildings before the children recommenced another school year ..August 21.

It also was the tail end of the particularly bad variant Delta when many people were ending up in hospital .

The first variant not to be more severe was Omicron which arrived Nov/ Dec 21 in Ireland .

So at worst she was just speaking out on what could have been a very different situation for us had Omicron followed the same path of increasing transmissibility and severity as the variants before it (Alpha and Delta ) and nothing had been done to improve air quality in schools over Summer 21 despite it being discussed by Foley and gov.

It is ludicrous to call her a vaccine denier as the OP has done .Her worst sin was being involved with the ISAG group seeking ongoing restrictions to aim for zero COVID which was too extreme but to call Prof McLysaght a lunatic is more than a little extreme also .

cheese sandwich

If McLysaght and her ISAG chums had had their way, we’d still have Covid restrictions to this day.

I don’t doubt she’s an expert in her field, but she displayed terrible judgment during the pandemic and seems a strange choice as adviser to the government

Hamsterchops

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122708584#Comment_122708584

Oops 😬

That is odd, and worrying.

ancapailldorcha

Why are people bringing up things from the pandemic which aren't remotely relevant?

L Grey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712314#Comment_122712314

Law against it?

Palmach

https://gript.ie/new-government-science-advisor-trans-males-are-women/

A total head the ball.

In 2022, responding to a proposed US law that would seek to prevent transgender biological males from competing in women’s sports, McLysaght described the proposal as a “brutal manifestation of transphobia.”

“1. Transwomen are women. 2. The origin of sex-differentiated sports is not to protect women’s sports but to marginalise them. 3. This law is a brutal manifestation of transphobia”, she said.

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712314#Comment_122712314

because they are desperate to rehash the same discredited and failed arguments again because they can't deal with the fact they lost and were rightly ignored.

it's just whinging and throwing the toys out of the pram again.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712412#Comment_122712412

So you're saying that how a government science adviser behaved and acted during a major health crisis is not relevant?

Because I would imagine that it's very relevant considering a part of their job will surely involve giving government advice on how to do deal with incidents like this in the future.

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712477#Comment_122712477

it's not relevant no, because she simply suggested something without any mallice behind it, whether it was right or wrong.

unlike those who criticise her who were looking for nonsense with absolute mallice behind what they were looking for.

anyway, it's over, she's got the job and us sane people won the day when it came to the covid strategy.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712412#Comment_122712412

While that's certainly the low hanging fruit in terms of explaining motivation, I was curious to see if there was anything more at play.

This was years ago. Why some people need to drag up perceived slights from back then, I can't fathom but it can't be healthy.

Geuze

There are men, and there are women. That's it.

Yet Ms. Lysaght seems to think that men can become women.

Obviously, they can't.

It seems that she supports allowing men to play in women's sports.

How can somebody in such a serious position have such a weak understanding of basic science?

warned and 1 day forum ban applied

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712924#Comment_122712924

But her nonsensical suggestions that she put out in public would indicate she has nonsensical ideas in her head that she can't keep to herself.

Donald Trump suggested (without malice) potentially using some of the properties in bleach to help deal with covid and he was vilified for it.Admittedly it was stupid thing to say out loud but why was his suggestion not given the benefit of the doubt and McLysaght is?

Also she's not one of the sane people who won the day when it comes to covid strategy as we don't have forever masking like she was suggesting.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122713242#Comment_122713242

She effectively recommended caution because we were in very unknown territory. She wasn't alone in that in terms of perspectives from the scientific community. I'd say that's pretty different to recommending ingesting bleach.

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122712314#Comment_122712314

Because future pandemic threats are one of the things she is expected to advise on.

New national science forum to enhance ability to respond to challenges such as climate change and pandemic threats

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/10/07/geneticist-aoife-mclysaght-due-to-be-appointed-government-science-adviser-by-cabinet/

2Greyfoxes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122713221#Comment_122713221

On Your first point yes and no. Some forms of intersex (the extremely rare cases, something like 0.0012% of all births) have both male and female genital, sometimes not always spotted as it could be internal. However for the vast majority of people, yes it is either male (boy, man) or female (girl, woman), and mammals can not change sex. A lot of none mammals can however change their sex, due to a host of reasons.

Biology is a bit messy and sometimes things go a bit... odd, that said we have yet to discover a gamete that is in a state of transition between Sperm and Ova. So we can firmly say there are only 2 sexes.

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122713242#Comment_122713242

donald trump made his nonsense suggestion with mallice because he knew it was bollox and knew some of his gullible twats would actually act on it, which some did.
presumably it was all about trying to make more money for himself some how.
McLysaght made a suggestion that mask wearing should continue for longer just as an extra precaution until we were sure the vaccine was working, it worked and her suggestion didn't need to happen.
it's over lad, you need to move on, the rest of us have.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122713242#Comment_122713242

Bleach is toxic, that's why.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122713313#Comment_122713313

And? Still not seeing the problem.

2Greyfoxes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122713435#Comment_122713435

No he didn't, we all saw it. We have the video evidence. There was no malice in his voice when he said what he said. Nor was it said as a joke, as sarcasm, or any other excuse you may try to use to pardon his words.

Accept that he made an absolute fool of himself and move on.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122713267#Comment_122713267

Suggesting forever masking and locking down for much longer was idiotic though.

What Trump said was also idiotic, point is though he gets called out for his idiocy (and he also not a scientist so nobody should take him seriously) , where her idiocy gets indulged and she's now being brought in to advise government when based on what she has stated publicly in the past you'd have to question her judgment and common sense (which should be a prerequisite for advising the government).

Avon8

Like a lot of people, id be broadly a status quo voter, mainly because I'm more afraid of the loony alternative. But hires like this really make me question my position.

ISAG were nothing short of a vested interest parasite on the country for the better part of 18 months. This is a supposedly 'independent' scientific group that through leaked emails, were shown to target media hosts sympathetic to their views, such as Matt Cooper and Claire Byrne. Why on earth was a group, presented as kind & benevolent for the public interest, be actively targeting journalists who would support them or wouldn't challenge them on their views?

Prominent ISAG member Tomas Ryan, stated that COVID was a major factor in Autism at the fetal stage. A suggestion that wasn't so much dismissed by the wider scientific community, but not even discussed by a single respected contributer. Another prominent member claimed Ireland would see 100k deaths

ISAG relentlessly pushed a "zero covid" narrative, a move that proven to be absolutely disastrous in basically every region it's been implemented. Take China for example, a region that openly monitors land borders. Every rational person knew this wasn't a coherent strategy for Ireland (with an open land border) yet this group of rogue 'scientists' kept pushing for it without reason.

In the years since Covid, Ireland has operated at an excess death rate of between 10% and 20% above norms, basically every month. This is something that's been acknowledged by the Taoiseach. Without going down conspiratorial routes, which I don't subscribe to, the only rational explanation as to why we've lost all these dead citizens is missed medical appointments, screenings and general care that was brought about by lockdown conditions.

This literally means we now have more dead people (10-20% exceess deaths) than we could ever realistically aim to save through heavy restrictions. ISAG were a massive component on this, with constant prominent air time and continuous shaping of the publics opinion through misinformation. Somebody was funding these people to colour public opinion.

I lost a family member though a missed medical screening. The fact that one of these absolute charlatans, who was clearly funded by a vested interest, now gets a cushy government number makes me sick to my stomach