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RTÉ

The bizarre hijacking involving an Irish plane, an Irish minister and the Third Secret of Fatima

Albert Reynolds to the rescue.

THIS WEEK, THE world’s attention was grabbed by a bizarre hijacking incident which began in Egypt and ended in Larnaca, Cyprus.

However, 35 years ago next month, an even more bizarre hijacking involved an Irish plane, an Irish minister and the Third Secret of Fatima.

Aer Lingus flight 164 from Dublin to London was diverted to France after it was hijacked by an Australian former monk named Larry Downey.

doykeyes92 / YouTube

Flight EI164 was about five minutes from Heathrow airport when passenger Downey, a 55-year-old Australian, is said to have gone into the cabin toilet, doused himself with petrol and the found his way into the cockpit holding a lighter and making threats unless he was taken to Iran.

When he was told the plane didn’t have the fuel to get to Tehran, he settled for France.

Although the plane was now on foreign soil, Irish Transport Minister – and future Taoiseach – Albert Reynolds flew to France to handle the situation.

As journalist Sam Smyth told a 2010 RTÉ documentary, Reynolds was worried about the plane, it being “one of ours”.

The Minister, who was obviously concerned for the crew and the passengers on the plane, also had a very real concern for the aircraft because Minister Reynolds would turn to me from time to time and say “That’s our bloody aircraft” he says, “We have to get that aircraft back. That’s Aer Lingus’ plane.

Interviewed by media in Dublin, Reynolds told reporters what Downey’s new demand was – the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima by Pope John Paul II. The Sunday Independent also agreed to publish a nine-page religious manifesto during negotiations for the safe release of the passengers.

Downey had been a Trappist monk in his native land, but claimed to have been defrocked for hitting a superior. Officials confirmed he had left the order in 1954.

PastedImage-80669 The Telegraph, 14 February 1983

Eventually, after a nearly 10-hour stand off, French special forces stormed the plane and apprehended Downey. No shots were fired and no one was injured.

That didn’t mean the passengers were released, however. Reynolds boarded the plane and personally greeted them before leading them down the steps to the waiting media. There, he recounted how the siege had ended.

They came in from the rear and the side doors. He didn’t notice the lights going on in the cockpit so they came in from behind and surprised him. He didn’t offer any resistance. There was no trouble and that was it and nobody was hurt.

Downey was later sentenced to five years in prison and the Third Secret of Fatima was eventually published in 2000.

It was described by future Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as “probably proving disappointing or surprising after all the speculation”.

Read: Cypriot president criticised for ‘there’s always a woman’ remark after plane hijack

Read: “It’s over”: Plane standoff ends after hijacker surrenders in Cyprus

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39 Comments
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    Mute Pat Casey
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    Dec 1st 2021, 4:51 PM

    Because opening a window is cheaper than fitting a ventilation system.

    744
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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:30 PM

    @Pat Casey: Yeah, and I’m sure Donnelly can set an example and sit in his office all day with the windows open. He’d be quick installing air-filters if that were the case.

    326
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    Mute Frank Cauldhame
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:31 PM

    @Pat Casey: Perhaps nobody in the government have any friends/relations/interests in any of the companies that manufacture HEPA filters hence their backs haven’t been scratched yet in order for their use to be of benefit to said government members.

    458
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    Mute John Hayes
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:40 PM

    @Frank Cauldhame: this Frank lad …. you can bet if the cronies were to benefit they’d be in schools everywhere.

    169
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    Mute potnoodle
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:44 PM

    @Frank Cauldhame: precisely

    124
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    Mute This time its personable!
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:20 PM

    @Frank Cauldhame: yet Frank yet. I’d give them a week and HEPAFiltersNOW ltd will have been set up and secured it’s first multi millon euro order.

    74
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    Mute Frank Cauldhame
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    Dec 1st 2021, 10:17 PM

    @This time its personable!: Back in Lowry’s day you could buy a “shelf” company (already set up and incorporated) to carry out your shady deals. Came in handy for DOB quite a few times, fact.

    37
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    Mute James
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    Dec 1st 2021, 4:53 PM

    They all contradicting each other running around like head less chickens not having a clue what to do

    373
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    Mute Joe Johnson
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:10 PM

    @James: Best option is tell all primary school children to go home until after Christmas and review second week in January when we know more about Omicron. Donnelly is out of his depth.

    144
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    Mute Declan
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:56 PM

    @Joe Johnson: Not for most, hence why schools are open..

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    Mute Markonline
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:56 PM

    @Joe Johnson: not sure if you are allowed to leave primary aged children alone at home by themselves all day…tusla might have a say on it.

    20
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    Mute Joe Johnson
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    Dec 1st 2021, 7:21 PM

    @Markonline: Ah so school is a baby sitting service then.

    37
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    Mute Billy McNamara
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    Dec 1st 2021, 8:20 PM

    @James: Doctors differ and patients die.

    6
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    Mute Macca1986
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    Dec 1st 2021, 8:50 PM

    @Joe Johnson: exactly. kids should be given extended holidays

    11
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    Mute Ted Logan
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    Dec 1st 2021, 9:13 PM

    @Joe Johnson: unfortunately it is now as families now need two incomes to service an even modest mortgage or rent.

    10
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    Mute Declan Doherty
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:09 PM

    Same with Norma schools are safe Foley, the government always seem to have advice that suits their narrative. We can drop billions on a hospital in the wrong location but we can’t spend a few quid on antigen test and filters.

    305
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    Mute Harry Trafford
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    Dec 1st 2021, 10:37 PM

    @Declan Doherty: you realise that it’s not a matter of putting a filter in a room. The filters are expensive and need to be replaced regularly. Also you need a ventilation system to move the air through the filters. But I get your point on the rest.

    7
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    Mute Ernie Gallagher
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:11 PM

    Nolan’s a bigger chancer than Donnelly, and that’s some achievement.

    255
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    Mute Yvonne Lavelle
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:18 PM

    In the meantime teachers and kids sitting in freezing cold classrooms, if Co2 monitors goes red we have to leg it outdide in freezing cold and dont get me started on the masks today, they were on they were off, on their heads over their eyes…….could spend the day saying put your mask back on, sooner Christmas comes the better.

    196
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    Mute Rochelle
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:31 PM

    Between this and his snake oil comment I’m starting to think Nolan isn’t quite the disease expert we were led to believe.

    Looking at his career history it seems to have mostly been spent in academia than actually working in the field. Another spoofer in high positions of critical importance in this country.

    181
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:37 PM

    @Rochelle: He’s like that fella at the bar telling everyone: “I don’t care what no one says. There’s no car doing 60 miles to the gallon.”

    44
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    Mute This time its personable!
    Favourite This time its personable!
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:24 PM

    @Vonvonic: jeepers I only said it the one time like, were you there or did you hear it from Seaneen, that boy has a big mouth. It was two years ago, let it go will you, for the love of god!

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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Dec 1st 2021, 7:25 PM

    @This time its personable!: The nose knows.

    5
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    Mute
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    Dec 1st 2021, 4:57 PM

    Everyday is a case of. He said she said we said they said they all said.

    146
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    Mute Roy Dowling
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:09 PM

    Irish politics 101

    100
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:29 PM

    @Roy Dowling: All politics.

    23
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    Mute Thady Coughlan
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    Dec 1st 2021, 4:57 PM

    Too many “expert groups”all leading to total confusion.Opinions r like a———-s everyone has one

    136
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    Mute Roy Dowling
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:17 PM

    @Thady Coughlan: only one way to be sure if you are right Thady. We’ll need to put together an expert group to access the situation and see if to many expert groups cause confusion.

    60
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    Mute J
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    Dec 1st 2021, 7:16 PM

    @Thady Coughlan: unfortunately opinions unlike their anatomical counter parts are not limited to one per mammal

    4
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    Mute bob hope
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:27 PM

    If open windows and CO2 monitors are enough, then why the need for masks? NPHET contradicting themselves again and the government following along like a nodding donkey. Rather than spend money on upgrading the schools (let’s face it, who’s surprised when they wouldn’t even upgrade the healthcare system in, as they call it, a pandemic) they’d prefer to force mask wearing on children. All this when they’ve previously stated on numerous occasions that school settings are safe and children aren’t at risk!

    139
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    Mute Fergal McDonagh
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:11 PM

    Nolan doesn’t know if he’s going for a dump or a haircut.
    A constant stream of ràiméis is all he has contributed.

    121
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    Mute a
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:06 PM

    Snake Oil Nolan making an ar@@ of himself again.

    178
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    Mute Burt Macklin
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:48 PM

    Why weren’t they purchased with the original millions that went to schools?
    Oh sorry that went on dodgy sanitizer, signs and warning stickers. Millions of euro wasted!

    75
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    Mute Ian O Hara
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:38 PM

    Why are all the group’s called !! Expert Group’s!! None of them seem to be able to give a definitive answer to anything.

    70
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    Mute This time its personable!
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:28 PM

    @Ian O Hara: I think it’s because they decide they are in an expert group it’s then they think they’re an expert on everything and not just specifically what the group was tasked with. They should stay the fluich in their own lane and not worry about other things, or is it that they don’t haven’t a clue about their own gig either so deflect somewhere else. If someone commented here with some rubbish these come out with they’d be torn to shreds yet all these think they’ve a platform to discuss it all, disappointed they haven’t got in on some ‘green’ initiatives to do with covid, hemp masks and the like!

    20
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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:02 PM

    At this point we could go back to hedge schools and donkey carts. And only teaching Latin and Greek to boys. The whole island could be a historical theme park.

    Joking aside, I hope schoolchildren are not prevented from wearing layers of clothing to stay warm.

    75
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:33 PM

    My kid’s school, with the windows open, in northerly or north easterly in Feb? It would be very good ventilation; something similar to out in the middle of the Atlantic.

    63
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    Mute Pat Redmond
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    Dec 4th 2021, 1:08 PM

    @Vonvonic: a small bit of all windows open is good, at home or in school

    1
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    Mute Willie Bill Bryan
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:47 PM

    Remember Nolan and co are educators , not good for our future graduates when Nolan can’t follow the science ?

    52
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    Mute Kp Gumbo
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:22 PM

    WoW, comments closed on the article on masks for kids. The journal are a disgrace lately !

    117
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    Mute Mike Dé Vere
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:22 PM

    Hepa filters are effectively used in some very large aeroplanes. Classrooms are much smaller.

    49
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    Mute William Tallon
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    Dec 1st 2021, 4:59 PM

    The AMRIC team seems equally staffed with experts in their field so do we need an impartial third party to decide who’s right? Crazy stuff…

    45
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    Mute Sean McCarthy
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:47 PM

    Can we take a step back from the edge here a minute before we spend tens/hundreds of million on equipment we most likely won’t need in 6 months or in fact won’t even be used at all. Remember all the money floundered on unusable PPE and ventilators. Can we even source these HEPA filters and can we even roll them out to every school room in time?? Sounds like a lot of people hurling from the ditches on a topic they don’t have a clue about.

    32
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    Mute bob hope
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:54 PM

    @Sean McCarthy: This was only meant to be a thing for a few weeks initially and he we are almost 2 years later still flapping about, so yes there’s time to do it. Also, if we’re to believe what we’re told, hard to say as it changes on an almost day to day basis, covid is here to stay and we have to learn to live with it, so this would be one of the things that would be needed in those types of settings for the long term.

    40
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    Mute Stephen Walsh
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:53 PM

    Heard one today where the teacher in a classroom had turned up the CO2 alarm to 2,000ppm, twice the safe limit. Why??? Because at 1,000ppm it was going off every few minutes!!!

    30
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    Mute Max Power
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:48 PM

    Some friend of someone in government got the C02 monitors contact …35,000 supplied but 10,000 were faulty ones that had to be dumped .The schools only getting a fraction of what they needed and many schools still not got their quota … I’m sure he got paid for the faulty ones

    27
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    Mute Ronan Lawler
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:34 PM

    Stephen Donnelly, utterly useless, chocolate fireguard.

    68
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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:36 PM

    It’s a bit unseemly for these professionals to be calling each other out in public. They need to work together and present a united front.

    21
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    Mute Alex Marquis
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:28 PM

    Wenger in!

    20
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    Mute Rostyballs78
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:03 PM

    Yeh canny change the laws of physics Jim, yeh just don’t have the power. Great!!!! Now Star Trekking is stuck in my head.

    19
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    Mute Declan Fitzsimons
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    Dec 1st 2021, 5:33 PM

    HEPA filters can trap the particulate that contains the pathogen (eg. Covid-19) but, in order to inactivate it, UV-C light is required, as recommended by international expert groups such as CIBSE, ASHRAE, CDC, WHO etc
    HEPA filters on their own are an incomplete solution.

    14
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    Mute John Mc Auley
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    Dec 1st 2021, 9:10 PM

    This is the same crowd who insisted on opening the schools .
    But now the children are unsafe and superspreaders ……

    14
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    Mute Stephen Donaghy
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    Dec 1st 2021, 7:00 PM

    The government should just ignore the expert’s advice and go with the advice given in the journals comments section.

    13
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    Mute Mary O Dwyer
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:31 PM

    We know we have one of the highest full vaccination levels in europe yet we also have very high infection rates and we do know that proper clean air ventilation systems that extract inside air and pull in outside clean air is just not part of our indooor spaces where we socialise , work or study . This has to be a driver .Warm countries would have ventilation systems as standard in most hospitality and indoor settings . Any bar, cafe ive been in even if asking for certs had windows/ doors closed in the majority .ventilation systems I only see in hotels . March is 9 months back for that focus on ventilation importance not to be prioritised and if needed to be subsidised for hospitality . Open windows tough on kids in winter but if no ventilation system what do they do . Clean air priority

    12
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    Mute Anne C.
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    Dec 1st 2021, 7:18 PM

    Sounds to me like somebody’s nose is out of joint. I can’t see why the Hse or Government are expected to take every piece of advice they get from experts! Daily on Radio/Tv/ Print media we have Eminent Highly Qualified Medical Personel who disagree on aspects of advice from NEPHD!! Sometimes it’s like “Too Many Chiefs & Not enough Indians ” !

    9
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    Mute John Vectravi
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    Dec 1st 2021, 6:25 PM

    UV is your only man.

    8
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    Mute John Mc Auley
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    Dec 1st 2021, 9:12 PM

    If hepa filters were available in ALDI
    or LIDL ????????

    5
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    Mute ⚡ Seánie ⚡
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    Dec 1st 2021, 7:00 PM

    What school has a ventilation system suitable to filter down to HEPA filter size?!?

    5
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    Mute Anarch Eco
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    Dec 2nd 2021, 1:14 AM

    @⚡ Seánie ⚡: Note to self-dont lick the filters
    A school for ants?

    1
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    Mute Giles Wolohan
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    Dec 1st 2021, 7:31 PM

    S donnelly is lacking in brain power why he has the job is beyond me

    13
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    Mute David Kearney
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    Dec 2nd 2021, 12:43 AM

    So the people who sell filters and air flow systems are recommending the gov buys filters and air flow systems .. classic

    3
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    Mute ChadChaderson
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    Dec 1st 2021, 8:43 PM

    If these idi_ts were in charge of the trenches they’d send everyone over on day one.

    8
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    Mute Dermot Moran
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    Dec 1st 2021, 10:03 PM

    Nolan and Donnelly. Two of the most useless people in positions of power. What did we do to deserve this pair?

    8
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    Mute Declan Gilsenan
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    Dec 5th 2021, 9:28 AM

    @Dermot Moran: Leo the leak was in power at the beginning of the pandemic and appointed Holohan to command the response. Holohan set up NPHET and appointed his fellow desk docs to most of the positions with few scientific docs, he dismissed the most effective response ie universal mask wearing on the spurious ground that it would frighten autistics.
    Things have improved somewhat with the appointment of more competent sub commitees.
    The disease is spread by inhaling or getting the exhalations of an infected person in the eyes.
    Hand washing or surface cleaning is therefore a waste of time and money.
    HEPA filters wouldn’t work in large spaces like classrooms.

    1
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    Mute Charles Barker
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    Dec 2nd 2021, 4:56 PM

    Prof Nolan should now do the honourable thing after his two gaffes and resign from NPHET’s modelling advisory group.

    2
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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Dec 1st 2021, 10:58 PM

    Listen to the experts? …… Not so easy in Ireland these days apprently

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    Mute Anarch Eco
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    Dec 2nd 2021, 1:12 AM

    Note to self-dont lick the filters

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