Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A GREEN PARTY Cabinet Minister has said that a Christmas “free-for-all” could lead to another lockdown in the new year.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Minister of State Pippa Hackett said that people needed to “buckle down” for the next few weeks.
Ireland’s Level 5 restrictions are set to come to an end on Tuesday week, 1 December, and the government is set to decide later this week what will be implemented to replace them.
The government’s decision will be based on advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), with the advisory health body expressing concern about Covid-19 infection rates over the past week.
Intense talks between NPHET and the government are expected to take place over the coming days.
Hackett said it is difficult for government to provide certainty for businesses, but that they did not want a situation where they could reopen before Christmas and be forced to close again.
“There is no point indicating to people we are going to open up for two weeks at Christmas because that is just a free for all,” the Senator said.
As difficult as it is now to get people to adhere to the regulations, a free-for-all two-week holiday at Christmas, that will be lockdown after Christmas.
“Do we open for a couple of weeks and then shut back down in January? I don’t think that suits any business model and I don’t think that is particularly the message that we should be sending out.”
She added: “We have a week or so now to really buckle down, obey what we have been asked to do. Young and old should be really coming together to do this.”
Hackett acknowledged that there is a “deep frustration” among publicans and restauranteurs about the the ongoing restrictions that they have “put in place measures” but still cannot open.
.@PadraigMacL SF TD says the Government needs to be frank with all sectors of business in the run-up to Christmas and they need to ensure that the financial supports are there to keep these businesses afloat to ensure that next year they can continue on. #rtetwip pic.twitter.com/4x0UbcQJjL
— The Week in Politics (@rtetwip) November 22, 2020
Speaking on the same programme, Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said that people wanted to have “as normal a Christmas as possible” but that “we have to continue to monitor the public health advice”.
“We need to get those numbers down as low as possible. So what I would say to government is that they need to be frank with all sectors of business and they need to ensure that the financial supports are there to keep these businesses afloat and to ensure that next year they can continue on,” he said.
NPHET had previously indicated that it was targeting an average daily Covid-19 of in and around 100 when the six-week lockdown ended but at present the average is closer to 400.
Labour’s Ged Nash TD said that there will be some “flexibility” about restrictions ahead of Christmas.
“I think there’s probably a certain inevitability that there will be some flexibility built into the system as we approach Christmas,” he said.
“I think the government wants to see a move to something around ‘Level 3.5′ next week to allow certain sectors to reopen. And then there’s a reality that at Christmas week and the week between Christmas and New Year where people will be determined to spend some time with their families.
The comments from the politicians come as Downing Street said following a meeting between devolved leaders in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales that the UK government is in discussions with Dublin over travel arrangements on the island of Ireland over Christmas.
“In respect of Northern Ireland, Ministers also recognised that people will want to see family and friends across the island of Ireland, and this is the subject of discussions with the Irish Government,” a Cabinet Office statement said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I’d rather be locked down in January than Christmas
@Darren Byrne: at the rate there going it could be next Christmas.
@Darren Byrne: I’d rather be considerate and save lives but, each to their own I guess.
@iDarragh: are you not capable of doing both ? Following guidelines and living in an open society ? Or do you need to be locked in your house to feel good about yourself and “save lives” ?
Pippa “can’t” Hackett.
@iDarragh: https://twitter.com/FatEmperor/status/1330078923930144768?s=20
This is what you wont hear on RTE.
This is the reason we should not be locked down.
@Darren Byrne: why are we still going along with any lockdown with the information and knowledge we now have.? It’s a farce and an infringement of our communal civil and human rights
@iDarragh: who’s life do you think you are saving, you’d be better off joining the RNLI if youreally want to save lives.
@Vladimir Macro: if you read the whole of the Nature article, however, you will see that it still recommends continuing social distancing measures i.e. lockdowns
Minister is out of touch, Christmas is on, simple!
@Tom Bombdadil: exactly, enough of this lockdown shambles, easy for her to say it, she won’t be put out of a job like thousands of others
@Liam martin: Hundreds of thousands.
@Liam martin: probably will be out on her ear cone next election,
@Tom Bombdadil: To make it worse, she was rejected by the Laois-Offaly electorate in the February GE, but still manages to get a ministerial role.
Democracy is an illusion.
@Daniel Dunne: exactly. And we have the balls to mock American democracy? Pippa H totally and utterly rejected at the polls yet still gets propelled not only to the Senate but straight to cabinet!
@Tim Oconnell: hopefully!
Nphet will be advising a lockdown in January regardless. They’ve become lost in the hysteria of their own making
@JedBartlett: jed never mind nphet adviseing on january, lol, i expect the good doc to push for more on december 1st.
@JedBartlett: Holohan will be going for Level 6 and no-one home for Christmas next week. Not a shadow of a doubt.
@JedBartlett: Nothing to do with an extremely contagious virus?
@Declan McArdle: rte commentrary on the 6pm newsmade a slip and referred to level 6 restrictions a month ago when we were just into level 5. Are nephet keeping something up their sleeve. Perhaps there are other agendas at work if you read the w e fs thoughts on the usefulness of covid measures to get the 4th industrial revolution started with people working remotely as they are now etc
@JedBartlett: and your evidence??
Go ahead – lockdown all you like. The people will decide whether to play ball next time.
No one is asking for a free for all. People want a relaxation of restrictions with sensible precautions in social settings along with the right to use their own judgement.
@Damien McDaid: Exactly. She’s answering a question no one is asking!
Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is a test and trace system that works. Thanks.
@Michael Flynn: santa says not this year, people have been too naughty
@Michael Flynn: 100% agree. An absolute tragedy that there wasn’t proper follow up at the time there were only 10 or so cases a day. We could have avoided this 2nd wave. At the same time any tracing system will only actually work if people isolate when they are meant to. Anecdotally , and in the press,there are cases of people wandering around the place out shopping etc while waiting for test results.
@Michael Flynn: spot on! Proper test and trace, cycle counts at 30 or below, follow ups on positives to clinically assess. we would be far more able to make the best decisions then.
@Santa: Well they have judging by the numbers of close contacts that haven’t bothered to show up for a test.
Lockdown? What lockdown? Coastal town in north Dublin heaving with people and traffic jams just like any pre covid19 weekend
@cill123: That’s really good, Cill123. Positive news. I was in Malahide at lunchtime and it was quite busy, I’m glad to say. A few long queues outside cafés and EVERYONE I saw was abiding by the rules. We need more and more of this.
These elected officials once elected think they are Gods and demand the public obey their commands.
@Paul Mc: what would you do differently?
@Paul Mc: well they did ask. They did ask us to elect them to make decisions. And we did.
@David Clements: she wasn’t actually, appointed.
@Brian Murphy: indeed she was, making the op irrelevant any way
If the numbers arent coming down then lockdown doesnt work. It cant all be blamed on people not following guidelines. From what I’ve seen people are following the regulations. There is an argument then that the guidelines are wrong. Or the reason for numbers not coming down is that the tests are unreliable.
@Ruairi Colton: do you think the numbers will come down if we just ignore all the restrictions so? What is your alternative?
@Ruairi Colton: Not all people are following the regulations Even a glance through today’s articles testifies to that being the case. So your reasoning for getting from “If numbers aren’t coming down then….”. to making a case for the tests being unreliable is simply flawed.
Minister who gets paid €106k tells general public many of whom have lost jobs, incomes, careers to buckle down
I encourage everybody to watch Pippas dismal defence of Helen McEntee on ‘the week in politics’ earlier. You could almost hear the last of the Green partys support walking away.
@The Risen: rather than watching a Land use and biodiversity minister (epic title ), I would rather put match sticks under my finger nails
@The Risen: It was incredible. As the Labour TD said on the show said, it was stunning to hear her diabolical defence of the Fine Gael minister. When asked about why FG didn’t let the parties in government know about the applicants that applied for the Supreme Court and on what basis did McEntee pick fellow Fine Gael member Séamus Woulfe, Hackett replied by stuttering ‘She did nothing wrong’.
This coming from a TD who wonders why there are more cars on the road. Schools are open so parents make one round trip in the morning to drop them off and then depending on ages of the kids two or three round trips to collect them as they finish at different times.
In a country where we produce some of the greatest medical device, pharmaceutical and IT technology in the world, the best defense against covid we can come up with are rolling lockdowns.
Irish people are not getting the governance we deserve.
@Padraic O Sullivan: suggestions?
@Michael Burke: South Korea, Slovakia, Taiwan…..
You know, all the places we dont compare ours to, or get mentioned on the news.
@Michael Burke: Plenty of alternatives that have been put out already. NPHET don’t appear interested and rather go with a strategy not supported by the WHO.
Obey what we are told to do!
Is this for general population or does it include senior judges and broadcasting personnel.?
This is how they prepare us for the blow later this week that restrictions won’t be lifted. We had pascal telling us something similar on Thursday it will ramp up now expect more and more of this from various other politicians from this clueless government. Although I voted for this government back in Feb i now don’t trust them one bit. Their failure to come up with any other solutions other than lockdowns and their make it up as they go along carry on is embarrassing. They sure won’t get my vote next time.
Unfortunately it’ll be either a sanctioned free for all for Christmas or unsanctioned free for all for Christmas. If videos from Cork and Dublin are anything to go by, the youth if the country are sick of lockdown and it’ll be hard for the Gardai to enforce restrictions.
@aidanshaw: that’s true but imagine if the Gardai had to disperse a crowd that size? They haven’t the manpower. They couldn’t enforce it.
@Alan Curley: alan im shocked we have not seen huge crowds gather the last few months.. Think cabin fever has kicked in pal. I think it will be straw that broke the camels back if nphet push for level 5 on 1st december.
“We have a week or so now to really buckle down, obey what we have been asked to do. Young and old should be really coming together to do this.” Reading this statement from a government minister fills me with anger/despair. What does Pippa think the vast majority of us have been doing all year? This is how to lose the public buy-in needed to beat this thing and is a perfect illustration of how her class has lost touch with the mood of the people.
@Martin Ryan: agree , although i believe they lost the people quite a while ago – the lack of any critical thinking , mature sensible plans strategies and the inability to build a ‘world class’ test and trace regime hasn’t helped. We actually reduced the tracing teams from 1800 people in April / May period down to 400 by end of september – i mean the whole world had been saying there was likely to be a second wave and we were busy finger wagging about young people / holiday home owners / old people wanting have chats with each other during on their walks / anybody with half a brain could in positions of power could have tried to enact a plan – decided to seals our ports and borders – aggressively test and trace – we have the advantage of being a small island not attached to the mainland of EU – 5 million people and we made a complete horlicks of trying to actually follow a strategy and plan – they won’t talk about their lack of testing of HSE staff – imagine some are only tested every 10 days !! – they wont talk about ANYTHING new and creative to tackle the xmas – what about Drunktanls so we dont have idiots in A+E – what about opening a night time economy and staffing and dining accross a much longer day – these ‘health authorities ‘ are incapable of brave crrative solutions -all they can say is lockdown lockdown follow the advice – they are devoid of any meaningful plan to balance like plenty of other countries have done – they are quick to claim how ‘well we are doing compared to other countries – but they also claimed that we have the most successful Covid app launch anywhere and then 500 000 had to delete it because it was faulty and we don’t hear another word – these health authorities in Ireland have shown they are miserable at crisis management – thats why we are the 4th highest spender in health per capita in EU and yet we have had a trolley ‘crisis’ for 20 years – and yet we seem to think they are going to miraculously improve in crisis management and handle this years ‘health crisis’ – i am sorry they won’t – the govt need to take the advice and then balance the livlihoods and mental health of the nation and reopen our society ( with sensible restrictions ) and then develop a plan around the 21st century solutions (mDNA vaccines ) and move away from the 16th century tactics of half quarantines for healthy populations and decimating economic life on the island altogether – the evidence will emerge this current lockdown is NOT the way forward in time.
The government/NPHET has got it wrong on so many levels. Firstly, lockdowns are ineffective and needlessly damaging to lives and livelihoods. This is well known at this point. But misguided as the government are, to open up for a few weeks at peak period for people to let loose and mingle completely undermines the albeit misguided strategy being pursued. We need to remove lockdowns and replace it with effective focused protection strategy to reduce both Covid and non Covid deaths. Such as is being advocated by Dr Jay Bhattacharya and thousands of other scientists, public health experts and doctors. https://youtu.be/vPj5yYAgee8
NPHET expects too much. They’ve become a shower of power pullers.
There’s more people dying from falling on their head in Ireland than there is of covid. I’ll take 3 days with everything back to normal and then lock down for 30 days-no problem.
January is always a lockdown month anyhow.. Let’s be having ya Christmas.
Mate, that’s fine. We were all expecting it anyway. No one does anything in January. It’s a poxy month of damp and brokenness.
While she will keep her salary. It’s a dangerous virus but everyone that is doing their part needs to have a break and be able to see their unregistered immediate family at Christmas. Companies won’t keep their staff with this constant yo yo effect of opening and closing until the vaccine is available. A touch of reality is now needed.
My sister was l in a tile shop near nass road, staff had no masks, no hand gel, customers on top of each other, people just browsing, lockup is nonsense
@New World Order: did your sister leave the shop when she noticed the issue, or continue to shop for tiles.
@New World Order: Did your sister not care either?
Its dry January anyway no one will be near a pub id take it all day long
@stephen harrington: It’s been dry 2020. I think most people would happily have a few in January if circumstances allowed.
Bow to your masters… Oh, and take a knee while you’re there.
Buckle down and be quiet, good little citizens.
This is no lockdown towns and sea fronts are heaving with people. Dr lockdown from NEPHET can bugger off.
@KSham: Since level 5 that minority has become a majority. Level 5 has seriously got peoples backs up. We are not children, and will no longer be grounded.
The reason that Ireland will be left behind regarding ‘green’ issues is due to the Green party themselves. Due to the party continue to defend over and over again the nepotism on display from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil they’re ensuring that they will be absolutely wiped out in the next election. Listening to Hackett stating that McEntee ‘did nothing wrong’ and avoiding to answer questions was embarrassing for every Green Party TD. Not surprising their most ‘green’ members have already left the party.
Saving Christmas will inevitably result in some deaths. But not saving it will result in disappointment. I prefer disappointment.
@Nomis Andrews: savings Christmas will also help prevent a lot of suicides.
To those commenting re most people obeying the restrictions. I was up twice last night with my baby as large party going on behind our house as well as large groups partying in the park opposite our house. This has been going on every weekend since summer. Must be happening in other areas too. This will continue in December no matter the restrictions. So we are living in a situation where some are obeying and many are not which is keeping the numbers on the higher side. So my point is the restrictions are useless bit the Gardaí have no powers to stop the park parties and take away drinks.
@CSR: so what you are saying is because some people beside your house were having a party, this leads you to believe everyone all over the country are having parties and most are not obeying restrictions, so if I use your crazy logic I have seen no house parties near where I live so this must mean everyone is obeying the restrictions.
@CSR: why don’t you get together a lynch mob? Seriously your blaming this for the spread? Wake up
Minister Says……lost me after that ;-)
Put schools online for 2 weeks and we’ll save Xmas !
Who ?
Has this just dawned on her?
Ironic that Hackett uses the phrase “free for all” when it is the exact reverse of what she and others like her want for the people of Ireland. These restrictions are nonsense. It is about time people woke up to the tyranny this government is slowly but surely normalising, by lying that is for our own good. Death rates in Ireland are the same as every other year, if not less. We should not stand for this. Hackett should be in jail for threatening people like this
Not so long ago politicians had a free for all
OBEY commoners or we will have you in lockdown forever!!! You will work but that is all. No socialising, no enjoyment. Work home work. OBEY I tell you
It’s inevitable… Everyone is going to run wild at Christmas and new year… Lock down again by late jan
close schools and open shops. Kids a lot more resilient than local businesses
I’d love a big surprise in January???
have your say