@Fozz: our abundance of caution and length of lockdowns didnt serve us well since we topped the list of case numbers in Europe. Closing the pubs, restaurants and cinemas at 10 instead of 8 wont make a difference to case numbers but will make a big difference to businesses trying to survive. Common sense should be the way forward not caution.

@DK: and then when we do lift restrictions especially for the entertainment sector , nighttime economy, and pubs , restaurants etc, no sooner lifted than reimposed again we need stronger leadership from government , make decisions and stick to them, we will have to learn to live with this covid situation , it hasnt gone away you know, and wont for the considerable future either.

@Fozz: If we did a blanket ban on driving, completely banned cars, we would save hundreds of lives per year.

@Giovanni cans: after 2 years people still not understanding what lockdowns do. You couldn’t make it up.

@Tomo: yes but perhaps it would be better if people just protected themselves by wearing a seatbelt instead of wanting to drive around, break speed limits and wear no seat belt.

@Tomo: you should join Eamon and his green party , maybe you already have !

@GrumpyAulFella: I think most people fully understand what lockdowns do (and it didn’t take them 2 years to find this out): They cause widespread poverty, depression, bankruptcy, and unemployment.

@mar: not much evidence of that here of course with our highest ever tax take of over €68bn last year and a current unemployment rate of 7%, almost at full employment. But of course properly managed lockdowns, as ours were, save thousands of lives, which ours did.

@Fozz:Spain is calling for Covid-19 to be treated as an endemic disease, like the flu, becoming the first major European nation to explicitly suggest that people live with it.
The idea has gradually been gaining traction and could prompt a re-evaluation of government strategies on dealing with the virus. British Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi on Sunday told the BBC that the U.K. is “on a path towards transitioning from pandemic to endemic.”

@GrumpyAulFella: Have you imperical proof that it saved thousands of lives or is it just conjecture you seem to like that a lot. As for our biggest tax take it stemmed mostly from big pharmaceutical companies (I wonder why) and big tax takes from big companies doesn’t filter downhill I’m afraid and the country even with the biggest tax take in history still lost 8bn something just doesn’t add up there does it. Your really are a good FG choirboy aren’t you

@DK: Could not agree more.
Nobody takes responsibility over here, it’s engrained in the culture at this stage. We definitely won’t be the first to unwind the restrictions, that’s definite.

@Michael McGrath: sorry to upset you by putting facts in front of you. You’ve lost any debate when you start name calling. I’m no blueshirt. But when somebody says “something doesn’t add up” without quoting any facts or figures then they can be more or less dismissed. What do you think may have contributed to any overspend over the past year? Could it have been job retention schemes, wage subsidy schemes, PUP, CJRS, Covid IB provisions, debt warehousing schemes…I’m only surmising but it would appear to add up. If you don’t believe that every country on the planet implemented lockdowns to save lives instead of intentionally wrecking their own economies, despite all of the data on same (Google it) then I’m not going to convince you otherwise but something about your thinking doesn’t add up

@GrumpyAulFella: If Lockdowns work you would expect the deaths per million to be lower in countries that have more stringent policies. this is not the case. For instance Ireland with has had more restrictions than Norway , Finland , Iceland and Belarus but recorded more deaths per million. Italy and Greece had the most stringent policies and ended up with more than 2000 deaths per million. Worse of than many countries.

@GrumpyAulFella: @GrumpyAulFella: If Lockdowns work you would expect the deaths per million to be lower in countries that have more stringent policies. this is not the case. For instance Ireland with has had more restrictions than Norway , Finland , Iceland and Belarus but recorded more deaths per million. Italy and Greece had the most stringent policies and ended up with more than 2000 deaths per million. Worse of than many countries.

@GrumpyAulFella: most driving fatalities were wearing seatbelts. We need to ban driving to save lives. Or do you not care about the 150 fatalities per year?

We should go a step further, wrap everyone in bubble wrap and confine them to their homes. Think how many unnecessary deaths that we could avoid!! Are you with me?

@GrumpyAulFella: I never said lockdowns were completely wrong not once so don’t throw that at me, in our context however our constant massaging of figures to justify lockdowns even when our numbers were very low at the height of the summer, when every other country in Europe was open fully was completely unjustifiable. And yes record exports from the pharma industry was the main driver behind our record tax take and still we lost 8bn how is that losing an argument. As I said big tax takes from one sector of society is not an indicator of the financial wellbeing of an entire country. People who usually earn 800 a week suddenly earning 350 a week tend to struggle and would much prefer to be working than staying at home wondering how they are going to make their next mortgage payment. The fact that our building sites now remain open and the majority of our factories schools and so on mean that for a lot of the lockdowns they got the policy inexplicably wrong and did more harm than good. Covid passports into hospitality, absolute bunkum no scientific justification whatsoever knowing what we know now about the vaccines but yet still we persist. If I hear believe the science once more il will crack up the science has been flawed from the word go on this with absolutely no consistency at all, errors, mistakes, faulty modelling, to downright lies.

@Michael Sheehan: You can also not compare us to those nations, now can you? There are other factors to be taken into account there, such as climate, population density and ages, social attitudes and so in. Norway and Finland had pretty tight lock downs, now compare the to Sweden, who didn’t, but shares the factors I listed above and you will see the true difference. For us the only real match is the UK in terms of the listed factors, and we have done way better than them. Why is it that after 2 years, this piont still needs to be explained. We can only compare ourselves to us of a different time frame, such as 12 months ago, or to the UK for the reasons explained above.

@DK: of course we want to save lives , but that doesnt mean a virtual life sentence should be imposed on innocent people , only those convicted of murder , and maybe the unvacinated as well, !

@GrumpyAulFella: by doing whats in second part , they might not have to worry bout covid !!

@Joe_X: UK has 4 times our population density. Has a greater proportion of over 65′s. So have we really done way better than them? Look at the deaths and look at the stringency index and we have. Add in those factors that you mentioned and it is unknown. If you want to look closer to home , Northern Ireland had 2982 Deaths . 165 of which covid was the only cause. It’s a pity we don’t have that level of clarity here. Again Northern ireland have a lower stringency level.

@Joe_X: Nobody gives poor Joe the likes he craves anymore. But is it any wonder. It’s complete twaddle.

@Robert Clifford: No proper come back? Poor Bob. You cant actually argue because you cannot contradict my point….can you? So you resorted to the typical antivax tactic….attack the person instead of even try arguing it. Bye bob.

@Michael Sheehan: However the UK does match us on climate and social attitudes. I will concede that they have a greater population density but they are still our closest match. But as they have a greater population, I do not think they have a larger population of over 65 per capita. Don’t forget that any comparisons with the UK are also skewed by the way that they also count cases differently to us. So I do think that we have done better than them. As to the North, I do agree with the clarity, but that is nearly half our deaths between Covid alone and Covid as a contributing factor for roughly a third of our population.

@CMT: if his eyes are open!

@GrumpyAulFella: Say you work in an organisation as Head of IT, do you answer a marketing question instead of the Head of Marketing, no you don’t. Ryan should have said its being discussed and either Minister for Health or MM will make the announcement shortly.

@Alan Wright: unlike the Head of IT he’s in the public eye with opposition parties watching his every move. If he’s informed enough to answer the question, and he clearly was here, then he should answer the question. He’s the head of one of only 3 coalition parties. Imagine him saying that he’ll leave the answer to the other two leaders. I thought we’d had enough of politicians dodging questions. No time for sleepy or his taxes but if he has the answer then let’s hear it.

@GrumpyAulFella: Nope, don’t agree. This is exactly the thing that causes problems and mixed messages to the public. We’ll have Leo out later saying something else or Harris still thinking he’s Minister for Health giving his take on it. Messages re: Covid should only be delivered by Health minister (NPHET in their allotted briefing) or Martin.

@Alan Wright: I’d rather see all 3 being able to talk about it and on the same page than the whole country having to wait for Martin to inform them. There are 3 leaders after all. If the 3 of them can’t be fully briefed and on the same page with it then we’re really fooked. They’d look completely disjointed otherwise.

@feargal de cantuin: Does every comment need to be sensitive to every single person on the planet so as to not offend. The OP was a general comment.

@Dave Johnston: and I know people in their 40s who ended up in hospital. Everyone is different.

@Sam Harms: Agreed. But what are options? In March 2020 we were told to follow the guidelines to protect the elderly and vulnerable, which we did. And 2 years later with 90% vaccinated, here we still are. We have to try and get on with things if at all possible. Mental health of the people is suffering massively. And it won’t be known for years of the full impact of lockdowns regarding cancelled hospital appointments, cancer screenings and operations. The deaths from the outcome of these scenarios could be several multiples of covid deaths.

@Sam Harms: Really I know plenty of people in their 40s, 50s 60s 70s and 80s that got it and didn’t end up hospital.. Go figure

@Dave Johnston: the hospital services, yes but mental health issues dont arise due to not being able to go to dinner on a Friday night or out drinking with your friends. If its not possible to just get on with things, then thats just the way it is.

@feargal de cantuin: It is sad that people only think of themselves so much of the time now.

@Dave Johnston: And I know four people with medical conditions that are in hospital, one in a coma, two more in ICU and one in a HDU.
So it is still deadly.
I know loads of people that it was bad for and some who it was not an issue.
Dont underestimate the damage it can cause still.

@Dave Johnston: There are not 90 % of the people vaccinated. there are 3,612,110 people vaccinated and that is not 90% of the population.

@GrumpyAulFella: Restrictions are doing nothing to stop the spread of this variant. Look at the Netherlands, they have been lockdown since before Christmas and their case numbers are shooting up.

@Alan Kenny: so imagine how bad the numbers would be without restrictions

@Alan Kenny: What would they be like if they had no locked down. Think of that for a few minutes.

@Rochelle: not sure where that prediction is coming from. How many of those are reinfections also? It’s definitely out and about but most people I know haven’t had it.

@Michael McGrath: Totally agree. We need to open society fully and by that I mean masks and social distancing scrapped. I mean, your told to wear a mask on a train but you can take it off if you eat a sandwich. Really??

@Michael McGrath: what fear mongering? We’ve got to get the hospital numbers down. They’re still going up. Once the pressure valve is released there then we should be good to go and get the health service back to its feet. After that it’s every man, woman and child to themselves as regards to whether they want to protect themselves and others or not.

@GrumpyAulFella: If you don’t have a proper open functioning economy then I’m afraid you don’t have a health service so make your own conclusions.

@GrumpyAulFella: Did you not read what I just said hospitalisations are up due to positive tests inhouse. The majority of people are not ill with omicron in hospital they are incidental pickups. The remaining people in hospital for covid and ICU are delta. Even Martin has admitted this

@Robert Clifford: yeah bobby, scrap the masks and infect all round you. Learn a bit of science before making statements like that

@Michael McGrath: oul grumpy balls doesn’t listen to truth or facts he stops replying when he’s in a corner then pop up in another covid comment spouting his own fear and nonsense to anyone who takes him seriously

@Joe_X: When your time comes Joe, are you going to insist that you be laid to rest whilst wearing your mask?

@Robert Clifford: Our economy is doing fine according to the latest reports.