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TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said a zero-Covid strategy is not possible or sustainable as the border with Northern Ireland cannot be sealed.
Speaking at Government Buildings where the Taoiseach announced the extension of Level 5 restrictions until 5 March, he said a zero-Covid strategy was discussed at the Cabinet sub-committee on Monday, as well as with the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
However, he said Ireland’s public health experts do not recommend such a plan.
“It’s a promise that you could never fulfill,” he said, stating “once you reopen again, the prospect is there for reseeding of the virus”.
Given Ireland’s geographic location, the “seamless interaction north and south” as well as the movement of border communities, it is not something that would work in Ireland, he said.
“It’s not as simple as putting a seal on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, it’s a seamless interaction.
“Likewise, with the UK, we have very severe restrictions now, but there’s always been historically that interaction. And then we’re connected to the European Economic Zone.
“So there’s always a limit to the degree to which you could seal the island of Ireland, there are real limits on the capacity to do that,” said the Taoiseach.
‘Not realistic’
It is not the first time he has said this. In October, he also stated such a plan was “not realistic” for Ireland – for the same reasons.
Ministers have long been frustrated with the calls for a zero-Covid strategy, arguing that comparing Ireland to countries such as Australia and New Zealand is not comparing like for like, given that there are two jurisdictions on this island.
Other concerns have been raised in relation to Ireland’s supply chain if the country was cut off.
However, a growing number of Opposition TDs have called for a zero-Covid approach that could “save the summer”, as People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said today.
His party is putting down a motion for such a strategy in the Dáil this week.
Róisín Shortall, co-leader of the Social Democrats, said it was disappointing that travel proposals today “fall far short of a zero-Covid or elimination strategy. There is public support for going further. We need to do it right and do it now”.
Today, its party members criticised the Government for introducing “half-hearted” measures when it comes to travel.
The strategy has been much talked about since the onset of the pandemic, however the notion that the model is unrealistic has been repeated by Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan.
‘When do you unseal the country?’
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said this afternoon that if those advocating for Covid-zero are serious, it would mean the strategy would be followed for a “couple of years, or maybe indefinitely because [the virus] is now all around the world”.
“It’s always going to be active in some part of the world. So whenever you reopen your country, you then don’t have zero-Covid anymore, it then re-enters. So that is one of the problems with the zero-Covid strategy or elimination strategy. It is not possible for us,” he said.
If you cut the country off from the rest of the world entirely “when do you ever unseal, because then inevitably, you let the virus back in again”, he said.
New Zealand have said today that they don’t intend on considering a reopening to foreign travel until they have vaccinated their population, “and they haven’t even started vaccinating yet”, said Varadkar.
He said the debate concerned him, and was frustrating many in government. Those advocating for zero-Covid are saying that in “three months we’ll live like New Zealand. That’s a false promise, it really is,” he said.
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Most of the people who post on the Journal are covid fascists where you must have their opinion or no opinion. I just come on here now to see the comments and I am amazed at the narrow minded people who post here. Some of us do not believe that lock down is the answer to save a few and ruin an economy and way of life for our children and grandchildren to come. cant wait to be slated here. Watch, wait and see. It will be realised one day, that our actions were a mistake and just remember this post.
@Carol Cunningham: Your bang on there Carol. Any differ of opinion and a person is branded a disgrace.
@Carol Cunningham: “Some of us do not believe that lock down is the answer to save a few and ruin an economy and way of life for our children and grandchildren to come”.
Read your own quote, “to save a few”?
you complain about people making narrow minded comments and then post that.
Just as long as “the few” are not your family I suppose.
@Carol Cunningham: Careful now, Carol. They’ll come for you with their ‘tin foil hat’ comments and accusations of being a Covid denier.
@Carol Cunningham: Ok Carol thanks for letting us know. I’ve bookmarked this post for one day so as I don’t forget this post.
@David Bohane: to save a few octogenarians who’ve been abandoned by their families in nursing homes.
@Damien Grogan: nail on the head
@Carol Cunningham: when you say “to save a few” you mean a few thousand obviously. Just to remind you that 3,000 individuals have lost their lives over just 10 months with severe lockdowns in place. One can only guess what that figure would be without restrictions. Almost 190,000 have contracted the virus and the long term impact on the health of those individuals is not yet known.
@Carol Cunningham: “Remember this post” Yeah because that’s what this is about. Alrhough you do strike me as the I told you so type in fairness.
@Carol Cunningham: You appear to have a misconception that the “Economy” operates independent of what is happening in society. You’re in a fantasy land if you believe we just open everything and all that will happen is a few extra old people die.
@Damien Grogan: that’s a disgusting comment.
The border was sealed in 2001 for foot and mouth. So, yes we can (in the words of Obama) seal the border, and we should.
@Daniel Dunne: that only works when the threat is only on one side of a border. It’s on both sides in equal measure, so pointless
@Daniel Dunne: no it wasn’t. I crossed that border every day back then.
@Daniel Dunne: The border wasn’t sealed back then. Zero Covid is not sustainable and countries like New Zealand will come to realize this in time.
@Daniel Dunne: It will take more than some straw and dettol this time. Closing the border is impossible. Better option would be an all island approach but we know who’s holding that back. Pity our Taoiseach and Tánaiste wouldn’t call them out on it
@Daniel Dunne: for livestock. Not for humans. And how can you possibly compare the 2 scenarios?Jesys wept. I travelled to the UK unimpeded at the height of foot and mouth, seeing the burning pyres all across North Wales…
@Daniel Dunne: 55 thumbs up for an out and out lie at the time of writing. Unbelievable stuff journal folk…
@Daniel Dunne: Animals are more important than humans it appears
@Pat O’Looney: Have you not seen any of the responses to this? The border was never closed during foot and mouth. I crossed it several times during that period. Driving over disinfectant was about the height of it and Gardai at only some of the many crossings.
@Daniel Dunne: The people North and South are not cattle
@JedBartlett: And how is it not sustainable for New Zealand to maintain a zero covid policy. You want to come in, you do 2 weeks mandatory isolation. Meanwhile everyone else goes on with life until the vaccine gets rolled out. Seems a lot more sustainable that in and out of lockdowns while allowing more cases come in from abroad.
@Pablo: I agree. This crises is completely unprecedented and people haven’t the imagination to look ahead and see what’s possible, instead only harking back to the past where there is no comparative event. Someone above said something about jeopardising the Good Friday Agreement ffs. Mihole talking about historical precedent when we are in unique times historically. Talk about tunnel vision.The border would open again when things would get back to normal because whatd happening now is not normal. We can close the border if we wish. The only thing stopping us is enterprise. People would swallow anything.
@Pablo: Because New Zealand’s economy is heavily reliant on tourism to a value of approx 10% of GDP, both directly and indirectly. 10% of GDP is a big chunk to lose for a long term. That’s why it’s not sustainable
@Daniel Dunne: True, but it was operational then, the Defence Forces along with Gardai were able to run it, but with the closure of Posts, scaling down of personnel along with a different political climate is as the government admitted, a non runner
It is realistic…
@Cosmos20202020: He’s wrong when he says it’s not possible but he’s correct in saying it’s not sustainable.
@JedBartlett: close the border and that is that part solved
@alan: And how do you propose to handle issues like international treaties that exist or dual citizenship or even those who live on one side but work on the other. Do you propose to bin the Good Friday agreement?
Close the border? Nice and simple
@JedBartlett: Alan hasn’t thought that far ahead, just close the borders and open the pubs ffs
@alan: There are over 300 road crossings to the North alone. 6 times more than the US-Mexico crossings and look how porous that one is. Completely unsealable.
@alan: that’s the unrealistic bit
@Longlin: If you make it illegal for people to cross the border for non-essential reasons (work, health-related), guess what… most people will not do it!
@Longlin: Aren’t the Mexicans digging tunnels and doing river crossings ….. Can’t see Mr Smith and the family going to that much bother.
@Niall Byrne: to be fair Niall the people that wont cross it are the same people who wouldnt dream of taking a flight to Belfast to get around restrictions imposed to stop the newest variant come into the south so it wont fix the issue!!
Dr. Mike Ryan March 13th 2020 “What we learned from the Ebola outbreak is that you need to react quickly, you need to go after the virus, you need to stop the chains of transmission, you need to engage with communities very deeply, community acceptance is hugely important. You need to be coordinated, you need to be coherent. Be fast, have no regrets, you must be the first mover. As usual it’s taken public outcry to budge the government into some action, but they are hardly following the advice of Dr. Ryan.
And he still thinks he can go to Washington for Paddy’s Day
@Maurice O Neill: He better go !
@Maurice O Neill: of course he does, and he will !!!
On some islands it might be but the way Ireland is being politically run, no chance
@David Bohane: What we need is New Zealand plus. Basically New Zealand strategy except even more strict.
Not possible not sustainable or simply not arsed? The incompetent dopes in nphet and The dail have decided long ago let’s make our job easy and just lock everything down instead of actually coming up with some intelligent decisions
@Cian: lock everything down bar the borders… the only sensible thing to lockdown
Of course its possible, there’s just a lack of political will to do anything more than deter or advise.
@Rochelle: yeah, but to get Zero Covid you’d have to lock down all the borders and keep them locked forever. Covid is never going away, no matter how many vaccines we have. So, if you have family abroad, you’ll never see them again.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: Brian seriously…. so there is no way for a person to quarantine and then enter a country? Or if vaccinated and have a negative test enter a country? It is not a case of never see again. At present thou it could go that way here with all the lockdown lockdown lockdown
He needs to go now. We need someone with vision, with a can do attitude and someone who cares that 90 people died today. Yes it is possible. Look at the other countries who did it when it seemed impossible and they didn’t even have models to learn from. Just do it. We need to do MHQ, one last lockdown to get rid of the virus then OPEN UP internally. Stop the excuses.
@Marlnor: first off northern ireland is never going to go in line with the Republic in regards the restrictions as all its funding now comes from London. how do you propose we close and police all the border crossings with northern ireland. What would you propose we do with all the workers that cross the border daily an example is doctors and nurses. What do you propose happens with all the raw milk and food stuffs that crosses the border every day? What happens the farmers whose land is split with the border? This is only a few of the things that cross the border every hour of every day. You say its possible please share your information.
@barry moore: Boris is putting together better quarantines than ours as we speak. It is not impossible to work this out.
@Marlnor: if the UK dose bring in a better system than we have it may help. But people calling for us to close our borders will have to include the North, what is to stop people flying to Belfast and traveling south. 14 day quarantine won’t work for people who work in the South and live in the North. Who will pay for it? Still have the delivery/collection drivers who makes multiple crossings every day. Farmers with land on both sides of the border. Closing our borders isn’t practical giving the amount of people who cross in both directions every day and having an exception with the North will only encourage flights via Belfast and onward private travel.
@Marlnor: what if the lockdown doesn’t suppress it And within two weeks youre back to where you started if you relax at all
What then , this isn’t March 2020
‘Not possible or sustainable?’ That just sounds more like ‘its difficult and our government can’t make difficult decisions. We would rather try and get another pay rise for sitting on our backsides.’
This government will be dragged kicking and screaming to a decision whether they like it or not.
@Paul Cunningham: How long do you think it would be sustainable for? To essentially shut ourselves off from the rest of the world, how long do you think we could maintain that?
@JedBartlett: its not like most of us haven’t already shut ourselves off from the rest of the world as is after a year.
@Paul Cunningham: yeah, but a Zero Covid strategy would require shutting ourselves off from the rest of the world for the rest of our lives. Covid is not going away. Vaccines lessen the severity of infection, but they don’t stop it. It is now endemic. And even NZ have had community transmission months after 0 cases, showing that the disease is never going away. So, to have Zero Covid we could never again reopen our borders. That means if you have a loved one living abroad, you have to be prepared to accept that you will never see that person again. Ever.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: no it doesn’t
@Richie: sorry sent early.
It just means they quarantine for 14 days first on arrival.
We in essence aren’t seeing anyone now. Let’s try something different ! This open up lock down is not sustainable
@Richie: first, 14 days quarantine is not zero covid policy. Zero Covid, which Paul advocates, is shutting off all incoming travel. Second, 14 days is the usual period of infection, but there have been many cases where someone has infected others up to 28 days after initial exposure. The only way to prevent infection is to permanently seal the border, which means no travel ever, irrespective of quarantine.
@JedBartlett: how long can australia and New Zealand and the pacific islands ?
Complete bull,, “not realistic ” because of monetary reasons”, just do it, seal the border and stop travel, otherwise stop lecturing me about my responsibility to follow the rules
@Hugo Bugo: ok seal the border. How to police that at every crossing point? What about farmers whos land crossed the border? What about doctors and nurses who live and work on different sides of the border? What about the agri food that crosses the border every day for processing? Northern Ireland will never go inline with the Republic on restrictions as they may be punished by London for doing so. I look forward to seeing your proposals.
The guards can’t catch every burglar in the country. Doesn’t mean we should make burglary legal.
Waivers and mandatory testing for northerners working here. No-one else allowed more than 5km into the republic until we reach level 1.
@Niall Byrne: who provides the waivers? Who validates the application ? Should a waiver be valid for one crossing or multiple? If its valid for multiple crossings whats to stop it being abused? Will a truck that zig and zags the border need multiple waivers per day. Will the driver need to be tested before he dose his application for a waiver? . As it stands its only essential travel over the border. Who will pay for this mandatory testing you propose for workers from the North? Will the employer have to fork out? That will increase the cost on jobs. Will the employee have to pay? 100€ per test that will decimate their income. Will they need it done for every crossing? Most people go home every night? Normally takes 24hours for a test result. What do they do for that 24hours?
Has anyone tried asking Arlene nicely? Perhaps after the last few difficult months the DUP might change their stance….
Also if most of the population are to be vaccinated by Sept why do we think that a zero Covid strategy means no next Christmas travelling overseas. Once the population is vaccinated will we not have a high level of herd immunity?
The country requires real leadership and a sense of direction and what we have instead is a cute hoor like Mehole Martin unwilling to make hard decisions and show some leadership and responsibility. Truly depressing.
MUPPETS
Time to grow a pair and strictly monitor the influx of travellers on our roads regardless for jurisdiction coming from!
Lame Taoiseach , it can be achieved or at least we should try it
FFG still using Northern Ireland as an excuse for their own failings and lack of nerve. SF just as bad. Disgraceful. Criticizing the DUP for not putting an internal border in their own country when we don’t have the nerve to police our own international border. 5km cordon around the border now.
@Niall Byrne: ……The DUP are a disgrace for blocking an all island defence against this virus – they’re playing politics with peoples lives. If SF criticised them for this, as you say they did, then they bloo dly well deserve it.
@Pádraic Ó Braonáin: Let’s look after our own country first.
Stop hiding behind nphet. Gutless toss pot..
If nphet say its not realistic or sustainable there maybe a chance
@Hugh Gallagher: It’s not sustainable. How long would you suggest we close ourselves off from the rest of the world for?
Stated vaccination target of September this year but year they suggest quarantine measures for another year so obviously the vaccination won’t cut the mustard.
So do we wait until Covid is eradicated, if it ever is, from the planet before we open ourselves back up to the world?
Zero Covid is not sustainable
@JedBartlett: endless lockdown isn’t sustainable either. Tried three times and failed. Why not try?
Covid will never fully go away so the notion of “Zero Covid” that Australia and NZ pursued was based on a cure / vaccine being found before opening the border again. There would have been merit to this at the start but now it’s just going to be pointless. Israel has data to suggest those who have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine are displaying 99.9% efficacy against the virus. If 70% of the population are vaccinated that – according to detailed statistical analysis – should keep the virus at such low levels that it is essentially non existent. Rubella esque. That is a sustainable solution. Keeping cases at 0 forever is simply not. It would mean keeping mandatory quarantine until covid is eradicatied which is at least a decade / possibly never
A question: If a person has his 2 injections and after one month likes to travel in EC, does he still need 2 PCR test. Of is this a way of making extra money
Nothing is going to change until there’s a proper level 5,
The government saying a COVID-19 zero policy wouldn’t work is a self fulfilling prophecy… A key reason it won’t work is because the Government won’t work it…
When this is over and people assess various responses to the virus, our dithering ‘blow with the wind’ strategy is unlikely to be judged as particularly effective.
He would Seal the Borders if there was an Outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease so why is this Different …OH the Meat plants mmmmm.
Their decisions aren’t great really. Look at what happened at Christmas. In the end horrible reality will bite. Better to respond now rather than react later.
What ever happed the public having access to the minutes of these NPHET meetings? Remember that was a thing? That got well swept under the carpet, I’d imagine with some red alert red herring situation
@John Doyle:
There are never going to let you see what NPHET are really saying
Of course we are not NZ…we don’t have authoritative leadership…a single strategy from Day 1, an economy that is starting to recover or are we able to move freely and gather in big numbers, without a worry or an effective test &trace process or a consistent quarantine system…
Why would we want any of these things? Much better off with a dithering leadership, an economy that is probably tanking, a confused strategy, that changes with the wind, not able to visit even our neighbour and a test & trace process inadequate and in the opinion of some..not fit for purpose and a ‘sure let’s make it up as we go’ quarantine to be considered….
who in their right mind want to be ‘like NZ?
If there are very low numbers south of the border, the north will demand that Stormont follow suit. Let’s get our own house in order first
How does New Zealand managing this? Plus, it’s just as simple, put in place emergency laws, after NI is not part of EU and also not part of this country. Should somebody complain about the reinstatement of the border, than they need to grow up and deal with it.
we’re more concerned about what people think of us. What will the EU say? What will Sweden say? What will the French think?
I’d settle for A covid strategy by this stage.
Just goes to show…they do talk sense once every so often.
Essential update of the day:
Vaccination rate: 2.9/100 (#13-14 worldwide)
Mortality rate: 631/1M (#136, worse than the world average)
Stringency index: 85.19 (tied for #7-9 strictest in the world)
Of course it’s possible what happened during foot and mouth. He is just using that as excuse. Also 300 crossings let Ireland man half of them the North the other half. Also army could be used.
But at least they have woken up to the problem at the airports and about time. Also we need tougher fine if not complying with covid rules eg €1000. Also Taoiseach needs to look at the countries zero covid19 has worked. Stop using border as excuse. Also look at New Zealand, it has 3 Islands. So Taoiseach cop on.
We should have a vote on covid strategy.
have your say