‘What Am I To Do?’

at

This morning/afternoon.

Dr Marcus De Brun, a family GP from Rush, County Dublin has received notice that he is the subject of a formal investigation by the Irish Medical Council over his appearance at a protest against mandatory mask wearing and Covid-19 restrictions.

Two fellow doctors complained about Dr De Brun’s address (above) to the rally outside the Custom House, Dublin 1 last month.

Dr De Brun, who himself resigned from the Medical Council over the nursing home scandal, has faced claims that, unbeknown to him, the rally was hijacked by far-right agitators and anti-immigration activists.

On Sunday, Dr De Brun told the Business Post:

“If the six or seven thousand people were all members of far-right groups they fooled me. When I looked out in the crowd I saw Asians, a couple of black people and lots of families.”

“I would certainly be sorry and sad to learn if people found my presence at the rally to be offensive, and I can understand that sharing a platform with other people with very radical views would certainly be offensive.

But with one caveat: there is nowhere else.

“[the rally] is [the] only show in town, the only place you can go and demand justice for those who died in nursing homes.

What am I to do? It seems I’m being told to find this imaginary other platform or shut the f**k up.”

Concerning the Medical Council investigation, Dr De Brun said this morning:

“It’s clear they are now coming after my livelihood.”

Previously: Baring All

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Previously: Left To Die: Nursing Home Timeline

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87 thoughts on “‘What Am I To Do?’

  1. Clampers Outside

    I can hear the accusations already…

    “They are adjacent to you!”

    “Oh no, they’re not!”

    It’s pantodemic season!

    1. Cian

      The even was organised by Health Freedom Ireland in conjunction with Yellow Vest Ireland.
      HFI led by Maeve Murran, a “kinesiologist” and anti-vaccination campaigner, and Kelly Johnson, a homeopath who has claimed vaccines can cause autism.

      1. SOQ

        Since when did Kinesiology and Homeopathy become ‘far right’?

        Anybody I know who are into such holistic therapies are very anti ‘far right’. This dismissive labeling is getting silly now.

        1. Cian

          Um. I didn’t label anyone “far right”.

          I would be uncomfortable if my GP supported rallies organised by homoeopathists or other woo snake-oil men.

    2. Daisy Chainsaw

      Assuming he has patients left when they get a whiff of what he’s up to. I doubt any practice could survive on the few antimaskers scattered around the country and you won’t get the antivaxxers attending a doctor anyway. They have zinc and essential oils in their medical arsenal.

  2. J9

    That was a far right rally. By attending such rallies you align yourself with the far right. The kind of people who attended are all so good at “doing their own research” that one can only assume that they know this, and are fine with it.

      1. Pat

        It wasn’t a far right rally. Sure there were far right types there, but it was more of a multicoloured rag bag of conspiracy theorists, anti vaxxers, anti-immigration types, contrarians, random thugs, vulnerable and mentally ill people.

        1. John Smith

          @Pat

          The trouble-makers you get at any protest (though they may wear different hats, depending on the theme of the protest).

          The people with views you appear to hold in contempt (eg ‘anti-vaxxers’) are ordinary human beings who see things differently from you and who are not afraid to speak out. Don’t, by implication, insult people just because you disagree with them.

          Vulnerable and mentally ill? Perhaps some of them were though I suspect that you are not qualified to judge. However, these people have a right to their opinions, too.

          There were also a heck of a lot of ordinary every-day folk who felt strongly enough about issues that affect us all to go along and make their feelings known.

          In fact, it was like any other protest. Better supported than many such events. Marred by bad behaviour by a few – apparently mainly those objecting to the views expressed (though I stand to be corrected on that).

          In general, ‘far right’ and ‘far left’ are terms used as put-downs by those who disagree with views expressed, rather than an actual assessment of these views.

          1. Pat

            that’s exactly the point I was making John Smith. Just because there were far righters there doesn’t mean it was a far right rally. Just because there were mentally ill and vulnerable or ignorant or fearful people and thugs there doesn’t make it a mentally ill or vulnerable or ignorant/fearful/thug rally. It was a ragbag or ‘lucky dip’ of all these kinds of folk and fair play to the whole lot of them I say!

        2. John Smith

          @ Pat

          ‘It was a ragbag or ‘lucky dip’ of all these kinds of folk and fair play to the whole lot of them I say!’

          Glad to hear you say that, Pat,. The point that I was making, though, is that you left out the ordinary people in your list so it sounded like you thought everyone there was ‘weird’ in some way, even if they weren’t far right. I would agree that there was a mix of odd-balls and people with specific agendas, etc, but the bulk of the crowd was made up of people who just supported the aims of the protest and that is the significant point.

          1. Pat

            I did not ‘leave out’ the ‘ordinary people’ John Smith. There may have been a group of ‘ordinary people’ there as well – mixing in among the other groups and types of people I mentioned. I’m not responsible for listing every single group there in fairness…

      1. J9

        Total rubbish Micko.
        Dolores Cahill is a member of the far right IFP, founded by Hermann Kelly who is a proponent of the racist “grand replacement” conspiracy theory. Yellow Vests were also involved in organising this rally.
        I have no issue with people disagreeing with me. I have an issue with bigotry and racism.

        1. AKA Frilly Keane

          And so do I

          But in fairness, the attendance was a lot more than those select clusters of ignorant bigots and whatever day of the week tis gathering
          It seems to me that it got hijacked by vested and non vested special interests & agendas

          1. SOQ

            I disagree V- out of the three rallies of Dublin, London and Berlin- I think Dublin was by far the most mainstream.

            Marcus made it very clear beforehand that there was to be no fringe stuff- and there was not.

            Compare that to Icke in London and Kennedy going off on a 5G tangent in Berlin- I think they pretty much stayed on message.

          2. AKA Frilly Keane

            Thought that’s what I meant

            It was mainly ‘ mainstream’ as you say

            But there was definitely fringe and rogue clusters there that botted and hammed it up themselves with their over engaged online entourages

            And unfortunately they seemed to dominate the reports even if 90% were boots on the ground were people like Dr Marcus

      2. Micko

        Ah come on J9, “the far right” are neo nazis, White supremacists etc

        Ye know… real dangerous folk.

        IFP are nationalist head-de-balls alright. But they are hardly dangerous.

        And even if they were ‘the far right’ silencing and calling them so only pushes them underground.

        If they are idiots, let them speak in public and we can all decide for ourselves and see they are muppets.

        It’s like Twitter banning and deplatforming Gemma O’D a few weeks back – it only drove more interest in her.

        “Why was she banned, what did she say? etc”

        1. j9

          As I stated already, IFP are proponents and promoters of the great replacement theory which is a white supremacist, far right conspiracy theory. If supporting that theory does not make you a white supremacist then what does? These people are dangerous by their very ideology. They incite hatred. GO’D incites hatred against minorities and the reason why she was removed from Twitter is because she went against their community standards. If you don’t think that these people are a problem then I think you are in denial of the real problem of the rise of right wing populism around the globe.They are not being silenced. They have held a series of rallies over the past few weeks with more planned.

          1. Micko

            J9

            Links or proof to them supporting your “great replacement theory” please

            I’m not doubting you, just want to see for myself.

            If you’re correct. I’ll change my mind. (See how that works)

          2. J9

            Hi Micko – here you go …. Though I’m sure you could have looked it up yourself …
            “The first thing they want to do is kill Irish kids and [they] want to replace them with every nationality who wants to come into our country,” Irish Freedom Party leader Hermann Kelly told Croft in an interview this year. (quote from IT article – Link below)

            https://twitter.com/hermannkelly/status/1168524545424351233
            https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/how-the-far-right-is-exploiting-immigration-concerns-in-oughterard-1.4026612
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kelly

        2. J9

          Hi Micko – here you go …. Though I’m sure you could have looked it up yourself …
          “The first thing they want to do is kill Irish kids and [they] want to replace them with every nationality who wants to come into our country,” Irish Freedom Party leader Hermann Kelly told Croft in an interview this year.

          In essence, it is an updated version of the “white genocide” theory which often claimed Jewish people were behind attempts to wipe out white people through inter-marriage and immigration, according to Dr Piaras Mac Éinrí, a geography lecturer at UCC who specialises in migration.”

          https://twitter.com/hermannkelly/status/1168524545424351233
          https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/how-the-far-right-is-exploiting-immigration-concerns-in-oughterard-1.4026612
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kelly

  3. shitferbrains

    If the fate of the hoax vaxxer Andrew Wakefield is anything to go by , de Brun needn’t worry about his livelihood.
    Next week he’ll have a supermodel girlfriend and loads of dosh from Trump supporters.

  4. Micko

    He’s not the only GP that feels this way

    Speaking with my own GP a couple of weeks back and his opinion was this thing is total madness.

    “Smallpox, polio, etc. There diseases

    1. Micko

      Hit post by accident

      “They’re diseases. The odds of this thing killing you is tiny. People have lost their minds”

  5. John Smith

    Yes, I’ve talked with a GP who holds similar views and isn’t afraid to say so. Unless this happens to be the same person you talked to, Micko, at least there are a total of three GPs that we know are willing say that what is being done is madness. Not enough to turn things round, unfortunately, and, with the threat of Medical Council action, no doubt a lot of doctors who might agree are keeping their heads down.

    1. george

      I know they say “three’s a crowd” but that’s not quite what that means. On the plus side groups of three are free to meet up under the covid-19 restrictions.

      1. John Smith

        @Micko

        No, other side of the country – so there ARE three and, no doubt, many more who agree with them but aren’t saying so. I do know other people in the medical line (not doctors), too, who are unconvinced. Sadly, we’ve a long way to go, I fear, before the tide turns and we get out from under this oppression. The ‘shut up and behave’ attitude will take a lot more imposed measures before it breaks and rebels.

  6. Cian

    De Brun: “The government didn’t provide the private nursing homes with PPE!”

    Also De Brun: Attends and speaks at an anti-PPE rally.

    1. GiggidyGoo

      He’s not anti all PPE, and neither was the rally. Distract, divert, generalize. Typical of you Cian.

      1. Cian

        What was the rally about then?
        It was anti -mask; anti-lockdown (both which exist) and anti-vaccine (which doesn’t).

      1. Cian

        Who was going to wear the PPE in the nursing homes? (mainly the staff)
        And who was to be protected? (mainly the elderly)

        The staff were wearing the PPE to protect the elderly.

  7. Nigel

    Does he have an actual medical exemption? If not, wearing that sticker to invoke a disability when he’s arguing that nobody should have to wear a mask if they don’t want to is both cowardly and ableist, and makes life difficult for people who are exempt. If he does have a medical reason for wearing the sticker and not wearing a mask, forget I said anything.

    1. SOQ

      So you have to wear a sticker now? Don’t tell me- its a yellow star? A pink triangle maybe?

      NOBODY has to wear anything- someone else’s health issues are none of your damned business.

      1. Nigel

        No you don’t have to wear a sticker. Which is why people who do wear stickers like the one in the picture above are almost certainly spoofers.

        1. Nigel

          (Imagine if people who weren’t gay or Jewish started going around wearing yellow stars and pink triangles as culture war badges of personal freedom, though. It’d be a bit like that.)

      2. Ian-O

        So you wander around bottomless?

        Would you ignore someone choking in public or requiring medical attention because its ‘none of your damned business’.

        Getting a bit hot there soqqy, but your psychological issues are none of my concern. Outside of you giving me an auld chuckle. Yellow stars… titter…

        1. SOQ

          So you are comparing a demand to know someone’s private health business to assisting someone choking in the street? Some jump into stupid there Ian-O- even for you.

          1. Ian-O

            Nope, simply pointing out the escalating hysteria you post. This time next year we’ll be on the trains to Mosney if some people are to believed.

            NAZI Mosney, so no craic. :(

            Have you put your pants on yet?

            But hey, I’m a sheep, baah! ;)

          2. SOQ

            The reason for mentioning the yellow star is because the UK government are advising exemption badges of what colour? Yellow.

        2. Micko

          Ian-O. Man, if you can’t tell the difference between walking around bottomless or someone choking in public and someone being compelled to wear something over your face.

          Then, I dunno.

          Beside’s we’re all doing with we think is right:

          I believe that people wearing masks is bad for our society and when I hear calls to mask my 6 year old I see red.

          You believe that you’re saving people by wearing your mask, your probably right.

          For me individual freedoms and beliefs are more important.

          We’re all doing what we think is right.

          1. Cian

            *your* individual freedoms and beliefs are more important than everyone else.

            when I hear calls to mask my 6 year old I see red.
            who is calling for 6-year-olds to wear masks? The current rule is under-13s are exempt and I’m not aware of anyone calling for that to be dropped.

          2. Micko

            Haven’t been on social media much lately then?

            I’d suggest you have a look at some of the older posts in this on Irish Times, Indo FB pages etc.

            There was a ‘caller in’ on Newstalk earlier saying it’s a great idea.

            I say older posts on the IT, Indo as the latest comments seem to be calling this is thing out for what it is – madness.
            ;-)

            The tide is slowly turning…

          3. Micko

            Also, if you’re the kinda silly who calls people out for accidentally using “your” when it should have been “you’re” etc

            Well, that kinda tells me all I need to know about you

          4. Cian

            I hasn’t noticed the you’re/your error.

            I has stressing the fact that *you* are putting your own individual freedoms and beliefs above everything and everyone else. You know: selfish.
            Like smokers (who put their pleasure before other people’s lungs/noses); or drunk drivers; or people that put their feet on seats on public transport (or their bags on the seat beside them); or a slew of other selfish behaviour.

          5. Micko

            @Cian

            I guess it just depends on your own philosophy chief. Selfish, maybe to your sensibilties – you may be correct.

            Let’s just say I’m more of a ‘Kant’ follower, and you’re more of a Utiliatian.

            Ye know, “the needs of the many – outweigh the needs of the few”

            You’re Spock, I’m Kirk ;-)

        3. John Smith

          @ Cian

          Even the Government is breaking it’s own ruling on that one. All senior school students have to wear masks, don’t they? A significant number of the first year secondary students are only twelve but that is not mentioned in the guidance produced by the Government.

          The photos in a recent Broadsheet (Part of the Uniform) showed, mainly, National School pupils in masks. It was not clear whether this was a school’s requirement or the parents’ decision. Either way, the purpose of the photos appeared to be to support the wearing of masks by young children, in that they were ‘happy’-type photos.

          Many children are walking around in masks when shopping with their parents or even in the streets. It is, again, unclear whether the parents are aware that the Government says that cloth face-coverings are unsuitable for children under 13 and that the Statutory Instrument imposing the wearing of masks in shops, etc, expressly states that it does not apply to children under 13.

          I can quite believe that Micko has encountered ‘calls’ for masking of six year-olds from various sources.

          1. Cian

            You make a lot of assumptions about a few photos of kids on Broadsheet. It would lead to the conclusion that either Broadsheet is actively supporting the wearing of masks by young children…. or your assumptions are wrong.

            I’m a parent with kids under 13. If I need to bring them somewhere where I need to wear a mask I will ask them if they want to wear one too. I don’t force it – but equally I don’t want them to get anxious that they don’t have a mask. To date they have always declined (and I’m okay with that). Perhaps other people’s kids choose to wear masks.

          2. John Smith

            @ Cian

            I am making no assumptions. I do not know the purpose behind the taking of the photos. I used the word ‘appeared’. Whatever the reason, these Primary School children were wearing masks. The parents seemed happy with the children’s mask-wearing but may have been putting on a brave face. This was just one of the examples I selected to include and it was one that other Broadsheet readers will have seen.

            Maybe some children see masks as fun (at least for a while, until they want to play a different game, perhaps). Maybe some are choosing to wear them. Maybe some are persuaded or cajoled by their parents. Maybe lots of things. The fact remains that children under 13 are exempt and the Government says masks are not suitable for them – but quite a number of them are wearing them. Even asking your children if they would like to wear one is, effectively, telling them it is fine for them to do so, which goes against the Government’s guidance.

            Also, another fact remains – some people ARE calling for children to wear masks and I can quite understand Micko’s seeing red. I am seeing red, too, on his behalf and on my grandchildren’s behalf. This is not the world we should be passing on to them. Masks are not good for human interaction – and that is quite apart from any consideration as to their effectiveness or otherwise in the present circumstances, something we are not going to agree about.

      3. Daisy Chainsaw

        And the damned businesses who’ll turn him away for not wearing a mask are entitled to stop him coming onto their private premises too. He can be a whiny attention seeker in his own surgery.

        Is chronic narcissism a recognised health condition? Maybe Dr Marcus knows!

        1. Ian-O

          How many people now defending Dr. De Brun because he shared a stage with far fright clowns condemned Ibrahim Halawa for sharing a stage with the Muslim Brotherhood?

          I have a sneaky suspicion there is some factor here I’m missing?

          What on Earth could that be?

          1. Ian-O

            Not defending Halawa at all. Just find the dissonence curious. Share a stage with extremists, expect to pick up their whiff.

    2. f_lawless

      @Nigel From what I read he wears the badge out of consideration for those around him in say, a supermarket, who might get distressed at the sight of him without a mask.

      You don’t seem to be entirely familiar with the legislation:

      ” 6.Without prejudice to the generality of what constitutes reasonable excuse for the purposes of Regulation 5(1), a person has reasonable excuse if –

      (a) the person cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering –

      (i) because of any physical or mental illness, impairment, or disability, or

      (ii) without severe distress,

      I wouldn’t assume to know what Dr Brun’s inner emotions are but I think it’s quite feasible that he finds the act of complying with enforced mask-wearing to be severely distressing. He seems like a principled man who has a strong sense of political awareness.From what I gather, he perceives the science surrounding masks to have become politicised and the underlying motivations for enforcing their use not due to concerns for public health. Instead, their enforcement is being used as a means of political diversion and of mass social conditioning which is leading the world as we know it further down a very dark path.

      For a person to interpret the situation that way and really take on board the enormity of what they perceive to be at stake, I think complying with enforced mask wearing could reasonably cause severe distress in that case.

        1. Nigel

          (Since people exempt from wearing a mask are not required to wear a badge, wearing a badge seems less indicative of distress and more of performative martyrdom. ASK ME WHY I’M NOT WEARING A MASK BEFORE THEY TAKE AWAY MY FREEDOMS!)

          1. f_lawless

            No since you’re liable to be challenged by staff members upon entering a shop and it is up to you to convince them that you are being sincere, then having a badge can be an advantage as its an indication that you’re not just making things up on the spot. Also it’s undeniable that certain members of the public can get very agitated when they see other people not conforming to the regulations. A badge may help diffuse a situation before a direct confrontation arises.

            To think that that is what your initial reaction would be to someone you see wearing a badge (which is nothing new and a standard practice) is a bit disturbing. You wouldn’t know anything about that stranger – whether they suffered from mental distress, respiratory problems, or any kind of disability not directly visible and yet you prefer to assume that wearing a badge “seems less indicative of distress and more of performative martyrdom”?

            Mr progressive values when talking about the need for compassion and understanding about trans issues, gender equality etc, but along comes a pandemic and out comes a closet authoritarian?

          2. Nigel

            Mr Progressive Values reserves the right to hold the opinion that people who refuse to wear masks because they think they’re being used as a means of political diversion and of mass social conditioning which is leading the world as we know it further down a very dark path are cranks. That they reflexively whine about authoritarianism when people disagree with them reinfoirces that opnion considerably.

          3. f_lawless

            “Since people exempt from wearing a mask are not required to wear a badge, wearing a badge seems less indicative of distress and more of performative martyrdom”

            How on earth could you tell the reason someone is wearing a badge saying “mask exempt” without asking them?

            And even if the reason they’re not wearing a mask was down to how they interpret the world, who are you to dismiss the level of distress it may cause them and what their state of mental health may be just because you don’t agree with their interpretation of events? Keep digging

          4. Nigel

            I would never ask. If they have a good reason, it’s none of my business. If not, I don’t want to be subjected to a tootlin’ lecture about how they’re being used as a means of political diversion and of mass social conditioning which is leading the world as we know it further down a very dark path.

      1. Ian-O

        Phew, a homemade badge.

        I’d be suffering from severe distress if he wasn’t wearing it.

        Consideration me hoop. Does he wear a mask while seeing his patients who are also wearing a mask?

        If so then he’s talking nonsense.

        1. SOQ

          So- a doctor who has treated numerous patients with CoVid-19 and did not catch it vs a ransomer with no medical background on the internet- which advice should I take I wonder?

          1. Ian-O

            I’m not advising anyone of anything. But then you seem to have a case of selecticus readicus.

            Most doctors say wear a mask, but hey, you stick with your outlying voice and we’ll be grand.

          2. SOQ

            SOME doctors say wear a mask- some say it won’t make a blind bit of difference and some say that breathing through filthy rags will harm your health.

            Were you wearing a mask in March and April when CoVid-19 was rampant?

  8. max

    He went to an Anti PPE protest to protest against the lack of PPE of Nursing Homes…. That guy has the smarts…

    1. Ian-O

      Calls people bedwetters.

      Uses acronym to suggest mirth to the point of wetting oneself.

      You seem fascinated with urine.

      Are you taking the p*ss?

      : |

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