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.
LAST UPDATE | 24 Feb 2021
THE GOVERNMENT’S REVISED Living with Covid plan is a “wing and a prayer” strategy that contains nothing to give people hope, the Dáil has heard.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin unveiled the new plan yesterday , which will see Level Five restrictions continue until 5 April at the earliest.
But Labour leader Alan Kelly attacked the plan during Leaders’ Questions today, saying it contained nothing new and is entirely reliant on vaccines.
He said: “It’s a hope and see strategy. There’s nothing in it. There’s nothing new in it that we didn’t know already, it’s basically a wing and a prayer and it’s totally reliant on vaccines.
“There’s nothing there to give people hope. The people are in despair.
“I have never in my political career felt the despair I have over the last number of weeks, particularly given all the communications failures that you’ve had.
“And my real issue is that there are no new tools to suppress the virus, nothing in the plan to suppress the virus. Let’s just wait for the vaccines.”
The Taoiseach responded by saying the tools needed to suppress the virus have not changed, regardless of the emergence of new variants of Covid-19.
He said: “The suppressing of the virus, irrespective of form, doesn’t change in terms of what we must do as a society.
“It doesn’t actually change according to the public health experts. What I mean by that is the social distancing, the avoidance of congregation.
“That’s what drives down virus levels. We should be driven by data and not dates. You haven’t specified any metrics this morning in your contribution.”
Vaccines are working, says Taoiseach
Martin also defended the reliance on vaccines, saying there is already evidence that they are working.
He said: “Vaccination is working already in our hospital care settings. It is having a dramatic effect on reducing infection among frontline health care workers.
“(We are) One of the few countries that targeted that area, in terms of the vaccination programme and it is working.
“It’s having a real impact, and it will have an impact on older people, and on those who are most vulnerable.”
Earlier today, Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shortall criticised the lack of targets in the government’s roadmap.
“We’re continuing to say we’ll do this until April and we’ll see what we do after that. I think that’s the wrong approach – to work on the basis of target dates – we should be talking about target case numbers and then we also should be putting in place, I believe, concrete measures to drive down numbers. They’re staying stubbornly high at the moment, mainly because of the new variant.”
Shortall said it should not be “a matter of wait and see”.
“It should be a case of the government saying ‘these are the steps now that we’re all going to take in order to drive those down those numbers’, so we can be confident that the schools will open – and stay open.
She said there are “major areas” that were not addressed in the plan such as resourcing public health so that more intensive contact tracing can be done.
She said from traffic levels it appears that a lot of people have gone back to the workplace and employers should be “directed to ensure that wherever possible workers should work from home”.
I think there are also issues in relation to low paid workers, those in meat factories, for example, who are in high-risk situations, and some clusters developing there and I think better financial support needs to be provided to people in those circumstances so they don’t feel under pressure to go in to work and they have symptoms.
Cork nursing home
In the Dáil today, the issue of nursing homes was also raised with the Taosieach.
Solidarity/People Before Profit TD Mick Barry has called for a full investigation into an outbreak of Covid-19 at the Ballynoe Nursing Home in Co Cork.
A group of five families affected by the outbreak have joined forces and sought legal advice in a bid to find out why and how the outbreak happened.
The outbreak began on 8 January this year and resulted in all residents and staff contracting the virus, leading to 21 deaths, Barry said.
The Ballynoe home is part of a chain of facilities owned by a fund, he said.
The Taoiseach said he will engage with the Minister for Health on the issue, adding questions about the outbreak deserve “full and comprehensive answers”.
He added: “HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) have been engaging regularly with the provider, prior to and since they were notified of the outbreak on 9 January.
“It’s understood that the provider did not request any additional support or ask for any issues to be escalated.
“Following receipt of the statute notification of 14 deaths between February 7 and 9, HIQA carried out a risk inspection on February 11.
“Its inspectors review the arrangements in place for visiting, as well as records heads in relation to visiting and family engagements.
“The chief inspector will prepare an inspection report now, proclaiming its findings and this report then will be published when the full process concludes.”
Martin said he understands that relatives are anxious for engagement, and he will discuss this with the Minister for Health prior to the conclusion of the HIQA report.
As of last night, there were 642 people with Covid-19 in hospital, with 149 people in ICU and a further 103 Covid-19 patients on ventilation.
Yesterday, 575 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, and a further 45 people confirmed to have Covid-19 died.
As of 21 February, 353,971 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:
- With reporting from Press Association, Michelle Hennessy and Chrstina Finn
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I travelled 40k this morning to the beach & it was fabulous.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: Finally some good news. Great to hear it Eoin. This 5K restriction is just plain wrong.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: Good stuff, I’ll be doing the same myself at the weekend.
It shouldn’t be about how far we travel, it should be about how we act when we get there.
The emphasis should be on good hygiene practice, not on some arbitrary amount of kilometers that they have tied to evictions.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: hope you enjoyed it. Might head out myself in the coming days.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: good man imagine staying in your 5k, shouldn’t matter where your travelling especially if your just in your car and even if you stopped off at a garage wearing your mask what is the problem, the government have no clue about people’s mental health it’s actually ridiculous
@JedBartlett: yes that should work out well with thousands heading to Glendalough, Howth and Powerscourt on a Sunday. I mean, what could possibly go wrong.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: brilliant knowing that those of us who live within 5K of beaches, etc., will now have throngs of city folk in our area. It makes perfect sense to have a travel restriction so as, if there is a breakout, the it doesn’t just spread all over the place and make it difficult to contain a cluster.
@GrumpyAulFella: Are they all goin to be hugging each other or what? The advice is to wear a mask on crowded streets, could the same not apply here?
You’re also 19 time less likely to catch it outdoors but if you want to hide in the bedroom for the next few month, feel free.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: this made me smile
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: love the spirit!
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: to be perfectly fair, if you are sensible and keep the basics, what harm are you doing driving 40k and taking a walk on a beach. Do what you think is right for you and forget these gombeens in Government. After all, I can assure you, they dont give a fiddlers about you
@Joe Vlogs: your 5 km may not be the same as my 5k yet we may be within the same 5k and so on, so your argument is moot
@Joe Vlogs: You don’t own the beaches just because you live within 5K.
Maybe you should move house if you’re worried. Find somewhere more inland where there’s no beaches, parks or woodlands. I’m sure it will be much safer for you when you’re taking your walks through the carparks and housing estates.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: Nice one. Good for the soul…..
@JedBartlett: And how do we monitor how people act when we get there? Maybe ask an epidemiologist, you know, an expert, if having the travel restriction at 5k vs 10k or 20k makes a difference. I think you’ll find they’ll say yes.
@JedBartlett: it’s the thin edge of the wedge isn’t it. Queueing up in their droves at coffee shops, walking around in close proximity to each other, all using the same public toilets… Start that ball rolling and it will be open the boozers, barbers and hotels next. We’re just getting on top of this thing now with the finish line in sight but some people just can’t help themselves. We need to see it out.
@Jim Smith: Here’s something you could do. Abide by the restrictions which are in place and stop giving the two fingered salute to the vast majority of people in the country who, while frustrated and in some cases suffering financially/mentally because of the restrictions, are willing to abide by them for the greater good. The stuff you come out with is the type of boIIox you’d get from a spoiled 6yr old. “The gubberment ain’t the boss of me. I’m gonna do what I want and I don’t care that not following the rules could mean everyone having to put up with this for longer”. You and your kind are a menace to society. Simple as.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: And do you think the expert would agree that it also should be linked to evictions? What’s the health reason for that? It’s a completely arbitrary number that has no scientific rational
@GrumpyAulFella: Public toilets are closed. My point is if people follow the hygiene guidance when they reach a destination then it shouldn’t matter what the distance traveled is.
Wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your distance. The odometer on the car makes no difference.
@JedBartlett: toilets in Howth are open.
@Tommy Roche: Good man yourself Tommy. You keep doing what you believe is for the ‘greater good’ and I will do the same.
Interesting that of all the comments above you chose mine to respond to. Let me guess, you live near the sea too?
@sjr: Thanks, I’ll remember that for the next time I’m there
@GrumpyAulFella: getting on top of things !!!! Are you have a Steffi ???
@GrumpyAulFella: so what are the statistics for catching Covid in a coffee queue? Barbers and boozers are the same risk? Your chances of catching this outdoors while taking sensible precautions are close to nil. The fact that your support for all government measures and responses is so unequivocal and unquestioning undermines your opinion in any argument.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: I’m sure the locals were delighted to see you. If we all did that, numbers would be sure to rocket as often times, people can’t seem to travel that far without the need for coffee, petrol, toilet etc.
But sure look it. You do what you want. I’ll do the same. I hate the 5k rule myself but personally, I do understand the reasoning behind it and as my uncle recently passed away from covid, I tend to be more inclined to follow the rules in order to try and reduce transmission. Each to their own I suppose.
@GrumpyAulFella: if the travel restrictions were lifted then people wouldnt be all going to the same place. I dont see an issue if i bring my kids away to a remote beach or trail somewhere in the west of Ireland if we adhere to the social distancing guidelines. We avoid crowded areas anyway. God knows it would lift our spirits.
@GrumpyAulFella: Unbelievably selfish really when you think about for a moment, they’re acting like its the blitz, we have it easy even compared to a few years ago, we need to live like this from now on, is any wonder a virus broke in our globalised world, we can never go back to travelling, or other variants will break, which they will, they are coming whether you like it or not, the science is settled, please trust the science.
We need permanent lockdowns to prevent this from ever happening again, too much damage was caused this time, we can’t afford a second.
Can you imagine we used to socialise in restaurants and stadiums shoulder to shoulder, icky as hell, absolute cauldrons of infection?
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: I travelled to donegal from dublin was fantastic
@Jim Smith: Nope. Live in the Midlands. And the reason I responded to your comment is that you stood out from the rest with your “well move house then” comment. Again, it goes back to my point that you have the attitude of a spoilt child. And my belief in what is for the greater good is borne from the level of trust I have in medical science and what it tells us about how human behaviour can impact the spread of contagious disease. In your mind “greater good” has somehow been twisted to mean “what’s good for Jim, no matter the cost to everyone else”
@Dobby Dooo Dooo: do you know what happens when you drive in a car with someone drunk at the wheel? They will more then likely crash. Our government have been drunk for the past 12 months & I’m getting out ….. RIP to your uncle. My friend committed suicide due to financial pressure as a direct result of covid
@Tommy Roche: all this trust in medical science (rightly), so could you please provide the medical evidence to support the 5km rule and suggest why you believe no other countries seem to be acting on this medical evidence to introduce distance restrictions?
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: The Gestapo is on the way you’ll soon be arrested and taken away in handcuffs.
@sjr: How many houses did you visit to find that out.
The 5km is moot now anyway. With schools going back next week it’ll be ignored by many. Nonsensical move by this government but what’s new.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin: “Our government have been drunk for the past 12 months & I’m getting out” … best summary of the situation yet. Thanks for that.
@sjr:That’s a relief
@Tommy Roche: If you disagree with what I say then you are absolutely entitled to your opinion. But please don’t pretend that just because I don’t agree with the restrictions, that I’m selfish or don’t care about other people. It’s quite the opposite actually.
The problem with people like you is that you see this pandemic as one single problem with the restrictions being the only solution. If you opened your eyes you would see that there are many problems directly caused by the restrictions. People are suffering because of this, not just the people who have had Covid.
@Eoin Jackson: Every community has residents who work in essential jobs. If one of these people gets infected, then under currents household visitor restrictions the virus shouldn’t spread beyond that household. But human nature being what it is some people will ignore those restrictions because “sure I’m only popping in for a chat/a cup of tea/to borrow something”. It’s actually the biggest cause of clusters. The 5km rule is to contain these clusters and make them manageable. And no other countries have these restrictions ? In England they don’t need a km limit because you are actually required to stay at home unless you have a reasonable excuse to leave. Their limit is the boundary of their property, not 5km.
@Jim Smith: let’s hope the beaches aren’t closed like last year
@Tommy Roche: However, in England you can leave your home to visit another family in your support bubble, or to attend support groups of up to 15 people, so the limit really isn’t the boundary of their property.
@Tommy Roche: sorry tommy i didn’t ask for your understanding of the 5km rule, i asked for the scientific medical evidence to support it. “And my belief in what is for the greater good is borne from the level of trust i have in medical science” – so once again i ask you to provide the scientific evidence that the 5km restriction reduces the spread.
Nice attempt to move my statement to suggest the UK do not have a distance restriction, but an utter fail. Here is why – we are under the same rules as the UK. We are not meant to leave our home but for essential reasons and to exercise – same as the UK. When leaving to exercise, which is seen as an essential reason, (same as the UK) we are bound to 5km from our house (not the same as the UK). You are allowed to travel for essential shopping reasons (same as the UK). So tell me again Tommy, how the UK are bound to an even stricter movement restrictions than we are?
Actually answer, or advise you are unable to answer, the specific questions asked and don’t try and pull a politician-like move and change the question to one you wish to answer or one where the answer agrees with your own opinion.
@GrumpyAulFella: Maybe having a stroll in the mountains would make you a LessGrumpyAulFella
@Jim Smith: Isn’t that exactly what I said in my first comment, that people are suffering financially and mentally from these restrictions ? And it’s the actions of people like you that is prolonging this for them. And I don’t buy your faux concern for others. You have a whinge about EVERY last thing being done to curb this virus, simply because you don’t like how it impacts YOU.
@Eoin Jackson: You need a peer reviewed research paper to prove that limiting people’s movements limits the spread of contagious disease ?
@Tommy Roche: Go **** yourself
@Tommy Roche: yes – that would be lovely, we will be half way there then. The second part should be easy as i am asking for an opinion, i would like to hear your thoughts as to why we are the only country implementing a distance based restriction from ones home. As we have gone over, the UK are not doing this. And while i would be lying to say I am all up in the know on the restrictions implemented in every other country on the continent, Ireland is the only country that i am aware of that has a ridiculous 5km rule, so why is that?
Leo was wrong about not introducing mandatory quarantine all of last year and he’s wrong about it now. Time for a general election. This government have lost the confidence of the people at this stage.
@Declan Doherty: MM and Doherty took over in June and there had been little or no travel since the previous March. It was when the initial restrictions were being reduced in June and July and some European countries started to open up that travel became an issue. While NPHET warned against non essential travel they were silent on incoming visitors. They were of course working on their ridiculous green list. The fallacy that NPHET were arguing for closed ports is pure revisionism. They were following WHO guidelines back then which advised against closing borders.
Shame they’re not listening to them now.
@Declan Doherty: Be carefully what you wish for. If mandatory quarantine is brought in for every country it could be years before it’s lifted, what politicians would want to be the ones to make that call and risk a new variant coming in. I can just see the comments on here in 12 months time when people still can’t book a holiday
@Michael Hanley: Life/health > holiday
@Frank Cauldhame: Yeah because every case of covid causes death. /S
@Frank Cauldhame: not all travel is a holiday. Currently, family reunions, travelling for legal reasons such as divorce, fertility issues, etc are considered non-essential. The result is major mental health issues, legal difficulties and for some, the possibility of never having children. Health is superior to holidays. But, like many of your cohort, you don’t regard mental health as part of health. Just like NPHET and the government. Then again, Irish people never cared about mental health until it’s too late, or the ramifications of policies that don’t affect them. I agree – sunning yourself in Tenerife is not essential, but the glee you lot find in tearing families apart, destroying individuals’ and society’s mental health while decimating mental health supports, is horrific.
Yes, so all the tax exiles can fly in and out to complete their zero tax, dobrien amongst other ffg friends .
Wasting time to read this
So if Iceland doesn’t require quarantine because of low Covid numbers why are the people of Kerry locked within 5km of their home with similar low rates!!?
@TractorPat: Because they voted for the Healy Rae’s
The idea that the variants are only in 20 countries and will only stay in 20 countries is laughable. They are betting the house on the vaccines and not giving it the proper protection.
@Munster1: its become incredibly clear over the last few months, that you are one of those people who will not be happy until we are the western version of NK! Heres a bit of a reality check for you – THE WHOLE WORLD are betting the house on the vaccines. Whats your solution? Stay locked down, close the airports like you wont s.h.u.t. up about and what? Slow vaccinations since we cant “bet the house on them”, level 5 til february 2022 then level 4 til june 2037? All because you are afraid. Pathetic!
Love, happiness, joy.
@Eoin Jackson: the government is locking us down because they have no plan. The new variants are coming into the country through our ports and airports and because the government won’t act on it, they are keeping us locked up until we get the jab in the arm which could be the end of the year for some people
@Eoin Jackson: When did I say close the airports? The ironic thing is a proper border controls from the start and we wouldn’t have had 3 big waves, outbreaks yes but not the massive numbers. Your strategy had failed spectacularly.
@Munster1: my strategy? Please do enlighten me on my strategy, oh wise one…
@Eoin Jackson: what’s with the attitude humpty dumpty
@Munster1: I’m sick of seeing people like you who think you have all the answers and are insufferably a.nnoying. Thats mainly it. You still did not tell me what “[my] strategy” was?
@Eoin Jackson: IMO, We should be having regular vaxxes 5-6 times a year at a bare minimum, to safeguard everybody optimally year round. For all upcoming variants.
That’s a good starting point I believe, we can increase it from there if it proves effective.
I also believe we should pay to get 3rd world nations vaccinated first in their entirety, as they are in most need, so we can afford to wait a while longer in lockdown, but it’s the right thing to do.
Perhaps some Irish people would be willing to donate their first vaccine to these nations, instead or in addition to sending Trocaire money?
@John McTernan: you are a more charitable man then i am John, i will give you that – fair play! I don’t think you will ever get a nation to agree to 5-6 vaccines every year and i don’t know if there is a health impact that comes with that, I would be nowhere close to an expert to give an opinion on that – maybe ask Munster1 on that, seems to have all the answers for everything. Il get whatever vaccine is offered to me whenever it is offered.
@Brian Madden: There’s also zero point in these level 5 restrictions if they aren’t effectively enforced. For example how on earth does it take a government so long to raise the non-essential overseas travel fine to €2k. Starting off with €100 fines….who comes up with this stuff. The government just aren’t serious about ensuring the restrictions are actually enforced. If they aren’t enforced, they don’t work. Like what was said in the article, the government’s new road map hasn’t even bothered to come up with anything new or any extra measures….it’s completely half arsed. No attempt to change the current situation to get the numbers down as quickly as possible.
So what happens when for arguments sake a Brazilian citizen decides to fly to Iceland and then, within a couple of days decides to fly from Iceland to Dublin?
Nothing about this government makes sense!
“Yesterday was an opportunity for a re-set,” he said, and there is now “a clear plan for the next 5̶2̶ ̶w̶e̶e̶k̶s̶.̶.̶4̶0̶ ̶w̶e̶e̶k̶s̶.̶.̶2̶4̶ ̶w̶e̶e̶k̶s̶.̶.̶1̶6̶ ̶w̶e̶e̶k̶s̶ 10 weeks..”…Sorted then
@Dan: Didn’t know you could do strikethrough formatting in the comments section… impressive!
@Gerard McAuliffe: lol.. had to look for a website to do it and copy it to the Journal (slightly sad I know) – -something like this..https://qwerty.dev/strikethrough-generator/
So sick of these three
We’re on the road to no where
Two things; 1 Money talks. 2 No balls. Larry et Al run the country.
@Michael O’ Carroll: put us all in the stocks but Larry etc bring a ship load of their brazilian buddies over. Who’s running the show? It isn’t leinster house that’s for sure.
He is actually talking sense here. I pray we won’t introduce quarantine for all as that will be a disaster for many people and will be very hard to row back on
@Newto2016: Yep. All it will mean is you need lots of money to be able to travel internationally. The rich will not be affected in the same way as the poor.
Nothing but the same old story.
@Jim Smith: Ah will you stop with your rich/poor arguement. No one should be travelling internationally unless it’s essential, a trip home doesn’t count. A collegues husband had to travel to Australia for work purposes (he’s an engineer) the work took a week but he still had to quarantine for 2 weeks at his own expense (well business expense). The virus is in every country so if we introduce mandatory quarantining we at least stop new cases coming into the country no matter how small a number. If we are looking at another few months at this level of lockdown then the government should be doing everything they can to reduce the numbers and strain on peoples lives.
@The next small thing: Now imagine if your collegue’s husband who had to travel to Australia for work purposes had to do a 14 day quarantine on his return to Ireland as well. That is 2 weeks quarantining in Australia, one week of work and 2 weeks quarantining in Ireland… 5 weeks for a one week job. Not to mention that measures like this are fine for a few months but at some stage families have to be able to go and visit grand parents etc without worrying that before they return home, rules will be brought in that will result in them been detained at their own expense in expensive accommodation for 2 weeks.
@Newto2016: all the talk of Aus and NZ is irrelevant. People don’t seem to realise that the only people in hotel quarantine in Australia are Aussie citizens and residents. The system works because they only allow 5000 people return weekly with each state having a quota. There’s a waiting list of Aussies trying to get home. Capacities are set and managed because numbers care known in advance.
Shipping random numbers of incoming passengers is a totally different prospect and is practically difficult, especially for a country that hasn’t even managed to organise proactive testing for frontline or key workers in 12 months.
The exit tax is a ridiculous concept. If you have confidence in your inward travel policies, why care about who is leaving? Laws created to placate the Joe Duffy brigade.
@The next small thing: so this colleague was a resident? From Aussie immi website.
Australia’s borders are closed. The only people who can travel to Australia are:
Australian citizens
residents
immediate family members
travellers who have been in New Zealand for the previous 14 days.
@Jim Smith: was just saying that. Holidays may become very expensive. No more fling of a few times a year unless you have money!
@The next small thing: IMO, We should be having regular vaxxes 5-6 times a year at a bare minimum, to safeguard everybody optimally year round. For all upcoming variants.
That’s a good starting point I believe, we can increase it from there if it proves effective.
10-12 ideally.
I also believe we should pay to get 3rd world nations vaccinated first in their entirety, as they are in most need, so we can afford to wait a while longer in lockdown, but it’s the right thing to do.
Perhaps some Irish people would be willing to donate their first vaccine to these nations, instead or in addition to sending Trocaire money?
Niall Collins was insufferable talking on the radio basically saying if you are critical of the mandatory quarantine taking too long to come in after its recommendation in April 2020 then you are insulting all the hard working nurses, scientists and essential workers that have done their best. All of this could have been avoided if quarantine was implemented a year earlier in the first place Niall! Not every Irish struggle or sacrifice is necessary.
@Paul Cunningham: heard it. That was like a sketch, they way that Niall constantly tried to come in with his thick accent, with his awful attitude. He also mentioned that metrics are not good to steer on, since if we miss one, it will be all doom and gloom. Completely missing point that now they steer on NOTHING, just living in la la land…. Good insight in mindset of government though, shocking.
Too little too late ye have let every varient in at this stage
The country in which a flight comes from doesn’t indicate a passengers country of origin. Not even factoring in people mixing at airports from different countries and with them sitting next to each other on a plane. Vested interests and tax exiles are this government’s priority, not the betterment of the citizens being restricted to 5km for the foreseeable.
The Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, would say that wouldn’t he , #LeoTheLiar #LeoTheLeak
Doesn’t want people from isle of man or iceland to quarantine 14 days on arrival, but expects all of us to remain couped up like chickens…..
This govt on very thin ice at this stage
It seems to take 2/3 weeks for a spike to be detected and notified. So are we to have open travel for that period, leading to our own spike and lockdowns again.
This should have been done 3 months ago, they should have preempted that we need to quarantine last year and if needed they all paperwork done. They are brutal
You would put them into 14 day quarantine as they do not teleport to Ireland form their house. In order to arrive to Ireland they need to go through an airport where they mix with people that travel form different parts of the world. If this has to be explained to a person who supposedly is responsible for running the country then we are in a big trouble.
Proper order. Mandatory quarantine is nonsense when countries have high vaccinations or low covid. To say otherwise is to accept being a prisoner in your country forever.
‘Taoiseach Micheal Martin unveiled the new plan yesterday.’ New plan???
What time is he scheduled to share it with everyone else?
Way to late they should have stop all travel in and out of the country months ago the virus was imported into the country that’s how it arrived and we would not have had to close the place down in the first place Fool’s that run this country
Two doses running the country. If the shinners recruit enough candidates the next time an election comes round, they’ll stroll home.
If all countries are not the same surly it should stand that not all counties are not the same. Counties with low transmissions should be allowed to reopen other services safely.
@Brendan Woods: Nail on the head
Cowboys.we are doing our bit,they need to step up now
Numbers of covid 19 would come down pretty quick if we stopped travel in and out of the country for 4 weeks. Nobody in from anywhere or out for non essential travel. They are going to slow with this quarantine, I’m beginning to wonder if it will ever happen.
Probably the most sense that a goverment official has said in 12 months
No better time to lash out some pay increases on the back of a minor distraction such as covid. Now who’s for a bar of “Danny Boy” just to to cement the mood of the nation.
The amount of lads in construction heading of to Sweden and London for work is worrying, there will be a shortage of skilled workers when construction in Ireland eventually reopens
The virus does not move, people move it, hence the 5km restriction.
@Marguerite Hoiby: excellent, now can you tell that to the 2000 Brazilians who flew 8000 kms to get here.
are be differentiating between original starting location and transit locations though ?
Sean Asal.
@Peter Coen: Asal Jack.
Surely he meant to say, “indifferent approach “
have your say