SIMON HARRIS has spoken out against Donald Trump’s “awful decision” to terminate America’s relationship with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The President announced he would be ending US support during a press briefing this past Friday, citing the WHO’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr. Trump has accused the organisation of failing to act quickly or effectively enough to halt the global coronavirus outbreak.
Explaining his decision, Trump said: "Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organisation."
He went on to say that the US would now be “redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.”
The President also accused the WHO of being under "total control" of China.
"We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engaged with them directly, but they have refused to act," he added.
The decision has drawn widespread criticism with Ireland’s Minister for Health among those to criticise the US President on Twitter.
Awful decision. Now more than ever the world needs multilateralism. A global pandemic requires the world working together. If we are looking for a villain, it’s simple -but it’s not any organisation -it’s the virus - we should unite in our fight against it & not fight each other https://t.co/NaiSlZnO43
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) May 29, 2020
Mr Harris wrote: "Awful decision. Now more than ever the world needs multilateralism.
"A global pandemic requires the world working together. If we are looking for a villain, it’s simple — but it’s not any organisation — it’s the virus — we should unite in our fight against it and & not fight each other".
The Irish politician was similarly critical of Trump back in April, when the US President cut funding to WHO, accusing them of mishandling the pandemic and covering up the initial outbreak in China.
