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A LEADING ECONOMIC think-thank has urged the government to cut less than half of the planned €2 billion from the 2014 Budget.
The Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) says that a cut of €800 million would be sufficient this year to allow the government hit the debt-to-GDP ratio target of 3%.
NERI says that the current government tax income, coupled with the public fatigue with austerity means that the €2 billion figure is unnecessary.
NERI also argues for a stimulus package and no further public sector cuts.
Dr Tom McDonnell of NERI told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that investment is needed.
“We’re now bottom of the table for capital spending in Europe. We want to bring this back to the European average.”
McDonnell said that NERI was advocating a three-pronged strategy.
This would include increases in spending on social housing and mental health services, an increase in capital spending and a return of money allocated abroad to be used on infrastructural deficits.
NERI says that doing nothing is not an option.
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Good to know a 30 person NPHET team who’s sole purpose the last 12 months has been to monitor Covid has as much of a clue of what could happen next as a Labrador.
@John Egan: bit disingenuous to the lmagnificent Labrador and its uncanny ability to sniff out and smell beyond c r a p
@John Egan: When did you suddenly turn into a Heath heath official exactly?
@ConorH: Haha, yeah thats true. Labradors are more optimistic too
@Eamon Morris: What health advice did he give? Seems to me he just offered an opinion on a team of people.
@John Egan: I know . Would make you think
@John Egan: sad but true what you say. In fairness in Finland they have trained dogs that can scent if a person has CV19
@John Egan: Insult to the dog to compare them to NPHET. A dog will show loyalty the other shows contempt and should all be sacked . To think they paused the Astra vaccine rollout based on a rumour is a disgrace.
@John Egan: Spain, Italy France and several other EU members lifted the AZ ban immediately upon the EMA report.
Our NIAC experts, more expert than any other experts, are meeting to consider, then report to the CMO, who will consider, before speaking to the NRPA who will then sing YMCA who will then…..I give up.
@John Egan: oh yeah and I love the way they bring along different members some evenings, so they get some TV time as well. Some HSE mid west person this evening.
I wonder are they all planning an apprentice style show when this is over? Are you hard enough for NPHET, where public health hopefuls put random citizens through enhanced treatment options.
@John Egan: 30 person? LOL. There are more than 450 experts involved in NPHET, its sub committees and expert groups. If they released the models they use for peer review, we could tell them how to make them better. But the models are as closely guarded as The Last Secret of Fatima. Which is a mistake because it allows errors to remain hidden from independent expert scrutiny and perpetuates NPHETs arrogant, “we know better than everyone” attitude. Sharing info is essential for success in business but strangely not a practice adopted by NPHET. Why?
@Eamon Morris: you’re obviously more closely related to Ronald McDonald than you are to The Joker. Did you read John Egans comment at all?
@John Egan: really intelligent comment there
@John Egan: Yes but “We don’t know” is often a very credible answer. It’s the organisations that say we’re being paid to know so we have to make something up that you have to be concerned about.
@Neil Neart: I heard they stopped listening to their own sub committees months ago and are now a tightly knit team repelling outside interference, so input, and reinforcing their own biases.
Which is exactly typical of dysfunctional group behaviour.
How many people would seriously object to retail barbers hairdressers and outdoor dining and pubs being opened once we have vaccinated the first 7 cohorts of vaccination groups (in other words 99% of those who are vulnerable)
This is just not working anymore let’s start encouraging compliance through a carrot and not a stick
@Luke: retail should open on April 5th. Even just for click and collect. Hairdressers and barbers and full retail maybe after cohort 4. The outdoor dining and pubs certainly after cohort 7 are done. Don’t think there is a need or a benefit to wait for all until cohort 7 is done as that could be end of June.
@NotMyIreland: Certainly you could break that down further agreed
We can’t lockdown any harder than we already are.
@JillyBean: yes we can.
@JillyBean: we could hide under our beds and Nolan will still find a problem
@Fr.Todd Unctious: No we can’t.
@JillyBean: Don’t worry were not! Muppets are ignoring lockdown,
@JillyBean: were is all the traffic going people are out in droves hard to believe there is a lockdown
@Fr.Todd Unctious: No we can’t!
@Fr.Todd Unctious: go fk uself
@JillyBean: The lockdown ended weeks ago. The only thing preventing mass movement is the Garda checkpoints. People have lost faith in the competency of the government and the team at NPHET. They’ve made blunder after blunder. It’s now being leaked that restrictions will be in place until July. What a joke!
@JillyBean: Of course we could- complete and total closure of everything except food and medicine for 2-3 weeks. Exercise for 1 hour a day, within 1km of home. No more than 2 persons allowed out together. Curfew from 7pm till 6am. Huge fines and jail for persistent breaking of the rules. Zero flights other than commercial. Deploy the 2500 police from Paddy’s day to the border to stop unnecessary crossing over. Close all schools and universities….the alternative is this current half-baked attempt at level 5 that will run for many more months and destroy the economy and our heads.
@Paul Whitehead: so your solution to end a lockdown that people have lost interest in is to have an even tighter lockdown… i can see that working well alright!!
OK NPHET, this is a good test case for you since you haven’t a clue what’s going on / what’s coming next….
Israel back in 7 February 2021:
Their final lockdown ENDS… and had only 30% of pop vaccinations complete.
So a partial Israeli population had 1st dose including: all over 60s, front-line workers, diabetics, morbid obesity, lung diseases, immunosuppressed and their family members, organ transplant recipients, hematologic patients, cancer etc.), teachers, creche workers
From Financial Times: “israel has almost no restrictions, and close to no enforcement of those that remain, they have raced out of the pandemic. Parties have spilled out on to the streets, children in school playgrounds and beaches heave with families”
@cianj: they have vaccine passports in place with over 80% of their adult population vaccinated. To live the normal life, attend a pub, cinema, theatre you must have been vaccinated. We are some way off that
@cianj: they are also considering introducing mandatory quarantine for travellers without a valid vaccine passport to keep new infections/variants out. The R0 is just under 1 and their positivity rate is just below 3% I think. But most of that is accounted for by those who refused a vaccine.
@NotMyIreland: and I will put any bet on with you when the time comes we will be told we’re going with a vaccine passport but it will take time to implement so its lockdown for anther few weeks. If only we had known about it earlier. Quarantine for incoming passengers took nearly a year and when they decided to proceed with it they hadn’t even done the leg work on it so it took anther few weeks to implement. Amazing how these changes take so much time but you can be sure of one thing when the new emergency tax on income is agreed it will take effect immediately. Roll on another two year emergency usc tax…. How many years ago was that introduced now, bit like 3 weeks to flatten the curve. We’re all imbeciles and they continue to treat us as such as we continue to allow it
@cianj: and they began slowly ending their lockdown on 7th Feb, but restaurants, pubs, events and schools were only permitted to open from March 7th. When over 80% of the adult population had been vaccinated, not the 30% you quoted. The only things lifted at 30% vaccinated was their 1km rule, hairdressers were allowed one customer at a time and national parks reopened. You were being pretty selective with your info.
@Craig Loughman: yeah unfortunately that’s probably the scenario I see playing out here too. Israel only introduced their vaccine passport when every adult had been offered a vaccine, as an incentive because they had just shy of 80% take up at that stage. So to encourage (kind of force) the rest they made all social settings require a vaccine passport. Maybe with a bit of luck the EU will have a block wide one that will give our lot less of an opportunity to F up. They will also probably have to accept recent infection and maybe even recent negative test in the beginning until all adults here have been offered the vaccine. Otherwise its surely discrimination if your penalised for not having a vaccine your not even eligible for yet.
@NotMyIreland: correction: 80% in my post refers to the over 60′s not entire adult population.
@NotMyIreland: “we are some way off” are you saying the Irish public are to blame because of the establishment s pathetic performance??
@Liam O Connor: no the we there is as a country in general
@Craig Loughman: “….and I will put any bet on with you when the time comes we will be told we’re going with a vaccine passport but it will take time to implement so its lockdown for another few weeks…”
google health passport ireland…. it is already there ready and waiting…
@cianj: “From Financial Times: “israel has almost no restrictions, and close to no enforcement of those that remain, they have raced out of the pandemic. Parties have spilled out on to the streets, children in school playgrounds and beaches heave with families”
Israel has approx 50% of their population vaccinated
They have introduced a ‘green card’.
No vaccine = no access to public spaces
They have introduced tracking bracelets
They have created an apartheid state overnight excluding non-vaccinated citizens
The PM stated on TV non-vaccinated people were dangerous
That is what awaits any country that introduces covid permits to move about and assemble peacefully in ones own country
@Alan Gee: genuinely one of the best comments I’ve ever read in here, do you know where I can watch the movie online?
Not listening to these muppets anymore, nor RTE, Jesus it’s some sh!tshow a year later, it’s time for a phased reopening of the country, people’s mental health, the economy and the preexisting massive waiting list in hospitals needs to be addressed, rapidly! I work in a hospital and I’m absolutely exhausted and there’s no outlet for it all! Whacked and so are all my colleagues.
@JongaFe: the authorities are responsible for you and your fellow healthcare workers being. exhausted – they have been given plenty of financial resources to manage – early on there was 100m + spent securing space in private hospitals which ultimately wasn’t needed – we are told 6000 staff were absent in january during the peak – but the system managed without being overwhelmed – we were told hundreds of millions was needed for PPE for healthcare yet we ended up with the highest level of infections in healthcare in the world – so something is very wrong here and it aint the fault of the workers – i am sure you can appreciate the half the country that have lost jobs or have to try live on a fraction of usual income are pretty exhausted too – a year after the outbreak and we are reading headlines that the national public health emergency team basically can’t assess the data and give us some clear messaging about where we stand – and it isn’t good enough- plenty of us who havent a fraction of the qualifications or experience in health could outline two or three most likely pathways based on what we know
1. The vaccine protection for the most vulnerable and front line workers means that even if cases dont drop further those new infections are with younger people who are unlikely to need hospitalisation
2. The decline in numbers requiring ICU shows our health system can manage at these levels with capacity for increases in the months ahead – but we are unlikely to need as i have already said older and vulnerable will have vaccine protection
3. The fact that 20 counties have less than 10 cases yesterday and that 75% of these were under 45 is a demonstration that large chunks of the country could ease 5k to county lines from tomorrow and the world will not end – this is very low levels in 20 counties
4. Every country including the Uk made it clear that as they reopen cases may increase – but once this is staggered and managed ( and again they are mostly younger ) then there should be no cause for alarm – we just have to be sire not to reeopen everything all at once and throw petrol for the virus but everyone accepts this
So i think most people should completely reject this nonsense of the advisors not being able to tell us what will happen – we aren’t looking for exact science or crystal ball gazing – this bluff and bluster is actually pretty disgraceful at this stage – an emergency team should not be allowed to descend into a bureaucratic committee discussion – the sense of urgency and clear messaging is a requirement that the people expect at this stage ffs.
@Dave Hammond: good points Dave, rational and measured.
But why aren’t government demanding NEPHT adjust their expectations to accommodate for vaccine rollout, seasonality, plentiful hospital capacity etc.
How does one protest without being branded a nutjob by the goons in RTE?
I would personally love to see 200,000 cars jam up the M50 in protest for a few hours, and beep their discontent. It was good enough for the farmers.
Well like I said back when this lockdown started, they could’ve locked down the country hard. But they chose not to. Most shops are open except furniture and clothes. All coffeeshops are open, and getting record sales. Supermarkets and hardware stores are packed selling “essential items”. The N7, N4, N11 and M50 are packed to almost pre-COVID levels. Many people who can work at home are just not. The only harsh thing about this lockdown was the fines, that’s it.
I doubt the public will accept a hard lockdown after months of this shambles. The time to do this was December or January. Now, you will not be getting much compliance I don’t think.
@Tomo: Dundrum was full of cars at 3pm. maybe schools are to blame?
@Shem: I think you are right, blame the schools, especially primary, I believe most primary kids took their cars after school and drove there.
@Shem: yeh and you were one of them or else how do you know
@Shem: How do you know unless you were one of them, people that say this place or that place was busy are there themselves, makes me laugh
@FPL JLO: or maybe shem drove past, and spotted the crowd?
I went out for a walk yesterday. Parked in a busy carpark.. lots of other people there.. so instead of doing the same walk as anyone else, we went to the other side of the road and into a nature reserve that’s open to the public. Only my mum, me, and a guy working there. Yet I can still tell you the other park was packed with people, despite not joining them.
Thank goodness the people who comment here aren’t in charge.
The kind of people who would watch you changing a tyre and tell you how you’re doing it wrong.
It’s a great way to express frustration though, I guess.
@Philip Cooper: well the big concern here is the man from the as AA isn’t quite sure about how to change a tyre despite being deemed and paid as an “expert”.
@Philip Cooper: As apposed to giving you a 50 page document on changing a tyre, but when it does not go to plan their is no troubleshooting section.
The “type pf people” you refer to are the tax paying citizens of this country and they are fairly peed off at this stage Philip…. but of course you really don’t care do you as most likely you have not been affected?
@Philip Cooper: So are we to be thankful that the people who are in charge are in charge? Because I’m feeling a whole new kind of underwhelmed with both the elected Gov and the non-elected public health team. Both, I might add, pulling full salaries for the past year and we are still in the s h i t e. It’s clear that there will never be full compliance to lockdowns anymore, but let’signore that and continue to bash the public over the head and release frequent soundbytes so we earn our regular pay.
@Philip Cooper: what if you were still trying to change the tyre after 13 months
@Philip Cooper: NPHET would just look at the tire and close down the road ….
Hasn’t been Clear for a long time.Tell me something I didn’t know. For a change
This ain’t no level 5 lockdown .
It’s shambolic.
Tourists coming into ireland in last few weeks are going up in numbers .
@Joed: where are they staying hotels closed?
So we have to wait now for a group of people to consider the findings on the vaccine. They will give their recommendations to the chief medical officer. He will then review and give his recommendations to the minister for health. He will then review and give his recommendations to the HSE. No wonder Ireland has a backlog in the hospitals when this is our decision making map.
Most are doing it right. Certain people are being selfish. They will be, no matter what level we go to.
It would be just as effective at level 4, if people actually took the precautions.
Any plan to invest in the public healthcare system, motivate and hire more staff? It’s just a thought…
@Claude Saulnier: That would mean that middle and senior civil service personnel would have to earn their six-figure salaries, and it would involve intellect, management skills and investment in the right places ….
So, no….
They are never going to open up the country they’ll keep us locked up forever
What’s Covid 19 Ted
I think we really need to see the vaccine roll out going better and quicker at this stage of the game . All the training protocols for vaccinators are cumbersome with intricate paperwork putting people off being vaccinators maybe. I appreciate the storage and distribution problems but that should not still be a problem in the end of march or staffing issues We really need to see change rapidly as most people are just psychologically worn out and come the warmer days i feel the battle will be lost in even the compliant.We need to see an aggressive vaccination programme . Its nearly three months since the media showed vaccination commencing .The end of the road needs to be seen especially when UK doing well .The recent halt in vaccines now needs complete catch up.
Same shit different day they want to get over Easter then a little tiny easing to get to may bank holiday then another tiny easing to get past june bank holiday….no matter how slow or static the numbers are they will never say the reason the high incidence is in the 40s is because they predominantly have kids in school. As for blaming people attending wakes at funerals how about the large gatherings at the traveller funerals and weddings no mention of this…..given up listing to this same mantra and the condescending speech’s of politicians while they travel anywhere and everywhere no need for them to stick to 5k, no fear of fixed penalties or same day court appearance,or pup payments sure they even make sure their councillors get paid expenses without attending any meetings…..
Have the experts considered opening county by county based on low case numbers?
@Andrew Lyons: ha ha we saw that before, and all know what happened! They would probably just end up scrapping it within a week.
@NotMyIreland: really , explain again what happened when level 3 restrictions were applied to kildare etc late last year because my recollection is that it was working fine – it was when everything was reopened all at once that caused the problem not the regional approach was operational – the living with covid plan was not suppose to be two options – everything closed in level 6 or everything half open – iit a shambles we have 20 counties with less than 10 case yesterday – and 75% of the 10 cases aged under 45 and will not need hospitalisation – and yet the healthy populations in these counties being asked not to venture 5km – and idiots on here pontificating nonsense. usually because they are unaffected financially and aint bothered how long these lockdowns last – pathetic
@Dave Hammond: Sorry you misunderstood me Dave. I’m not saying it wouldn’t work or shouldn’t be used. More that at the first hint of a rise in cases it would be abandoned again, the same as it was before.
@Andrew Lyons: they should it’s the fairest type of lockdown
1) The irony of “work from home” from a group of people holding a press conference who don’t work from home but could. Say as I do not as I say! Was the basic rule of leadership. Our Taoiseach can zoom call the president of the US, but dr Glynn has to sit in a room with everyone else!
2) these restrictions are archaic and brutal! The objective of lockdown1 was to give the space abs time for the health service to ramp up to handle this crisis. This never happened, remember the call for retired and returning doctors and nurses to offer services? Remember Citywest step down facility. All these are now gone or abandoned
3) the constitutional rights to travel and work are enshrined in article 40. The rights now removed from everyday life
The people need an injection of hope. We need some bit of a lift after April 5th.
Numbers are about to rocket again lads, paddy’s day yesterday….
Everybody PLEASE check out this youtube Channel on Ivermectin use for Covid. It all could have been over months ago. Please please please check this out. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5rJlf5jdr_I6qiozbQdx-g
@gary mcnamara: and your still waiting on the easter bunny to visit
@Ima Bored: what does that even mean? Did you look at that site even, please do and learn something
@gary mcnamara: YES I Did, I also seam to have read more than you have ,,,
This isn’t the first time that Kory and his colleagues at FLCCC have been accused of making unsubstantiated claims about ivermectin. In December, Kory gave a statement at a US Senate hearing on COVID-19 treatments in which he called ivermectin “effectively a ‘miracle drug’” that could obliterate disease transmission and prevent illness—claims that Associated Press fact-checkers labelled “False” at the time. Kory, who formerly oversaw critical care at the UW Health in Wisconsin, tells The Scientist that he now regrets using “miracle” and other hyperbolic terminology.
Later in December, FLCCC founder Paul Marik, the first author on the now-rejected Frontiers manuscript and a professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, wrote a paper reviewing ivermectin that included references to debunked papers, including an observational study of ivermectin in COVID-19 patients led by now-discredited Surgisphere Corporation. That study, which had been posted on the preprint server SSRN, was taken down at the request of one of the authors back in May after concerns were raised about the provenance of the company’s data.
What’s interesting now is to see how the doom mongers NPHET and the band of I won’t say what in govt react to EU proposing Intra EU travel with a vaccine or negative PCR test. This progressive move goes against everything these two odious organisations stand for. Wait and see them go against and keep us locked up within 5km for the rest of 2021. I am positive I general but I see even Christmas being no different from the last with NPHET and FFFG in power, the don’t have the foresight or bravery to make even tentative steps.
@NotMyIreland:
80%? I don’t think that’s correct?
Also I was talking about a situation they were in in early Feb. “Approximately 30% of the total population had been vaccinated with at least one dose and 16% have been fully vaccinated”
They are open. Partying. Little or no restrictions. No masks. No social distancing.
@cianj: all they relaxed in Feb was their 1km rule, opened national parks and allowed one person in for a haircut at a time. And yes the 80% was my error I read it wrong.
On February 21st they had 80% of over 60′s received their first dose.
80% of the over 60′s are vaccinated with two shots now.
On 17th March
55.4% of the total population vaccinated with at least one shot.
47% of their total population has now had two doses.
But yeah its only 10 days ago that they actually opened up.
@NotMyIreland: ok cool also my error that they hadn’t opened up fully at that point in Feb. For me I’m trying to spread a bit of positivity. There’s a chance we will be out of lockdown sooner than some doomers think. (We are almost half way to the point Israel was in Feb). I want NPHET to set out such a US or Israel-based exit strategy and communicate this strategy to us.
@cianj: yes I’d agree that that’s exactly what is needed. Even something along the lines of a post above by Luke. If vaccines are the way out well let’s design a roadmap for opening based on the vaccination of different cohorts. It may help keep peoples efforts up as this no end in sight stuff is to draining and clearly leads to people just giving up on it all.
Defrost me in 2023 lads
Close to 30 percent of transmission is happening in workplaces, despite many working from home and many others on the PUP.
Looking at the HSE tracker data there are lower levels of cases in wealthy areas.
My guess is that the inability of the HSE to test close contacts over the new year surge is now playing out on the persistent case numbers, many being without symptoms. This possibility is like a Darwin selector for virus’s which have space to spread.
Numbers will lash right back up in a week or so from now as a result of paddy’s day
Clowns
WHY not just lock down IRELAND from the world for a start.
north and south.
and then stop all the nubs from going out as well.
its that easy.
have your say