A doctor who resigned from the Irish Medical Council in protest over the government’s handling of Covid-19 in nursing homes said the lockdown was a mistake and that he opposed the use of masks.

Marcus de Brun, a practising GP based in Rush, Co Dublin, told The Times yesterday that he stood by comments made during a radio interview that healthy people wearing masks were “essentially preserving a huge population of potential hosts” for the coronavirus.

Speaking to Neil Prendeville on RedFM on Monday, he said: “Not only do I think that healthy young people wearing masks is unnecessary, but I think it’s also quite dangerous.”