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Opinion As we move to a fairer and greener future we cannot forget those on the margins

Sorley McCaughey looks at how Ireland is doing when it comes to the agreed global Sustainable Development Goals.

IRELAND PRESENTED A review of its progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the UN on 19 July. In September, the SDG Summit will be held in New York, marking the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress by member nations. This is the first of a series of articles, to be published between now and September, which voice the lived experience of those being left ‘furthest behind’ in Ireland’s progress toward the SDGs.

In March, I was commissioned by Coalition 2030, a gathering of civil society groups, trade unions and academics, to write a report on Ireland’s progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all UN Member States to end poverty, protect the planet and improve everyone’s lives and prospects. What was immediately apparent was that while the State plays a leadership role in the SDGs internationally, commitment to the Goals in Ireland is more patchy.

In particular, the State is failing to reach the most marginalised in Irish society, or to use the language of the SDGs, the ‘Furthest Behind’. There is no strict definition of the Furthest Behind, but essentially it means those at the margins of society – one-parent families, migrants, the working poor, people in Direct Provision, disabled people, to name just a few.

These were some of the people I spoke to as part of my research:

John is from Limerick. He’s a charming, articulate young man. He also has a brain disorder that prevents him from working full-time. He wants to work part-time but can’t find anything.

Like a lot of people with a disability, he survives on disability allowance and any other allowance he’s entitled to. But in his own words, that runs out quickly. Disability comes with its own particular costs, and John will be left behind unless the government introduces targeted measures of support, such as an ongoing cost-of-living disability payment in Budget 2024, a measure which could help John to do more than just survive.

I also heard heartbreaking accounts from young people living in Direct Provision (DP). One talked about living in an open prison, having no control, powerless. Another feared for his future, looking to a fellow DP resident who’d been there for 12 years – their entire life. Another talked about giving up hope.

Sustainable Development Goals are grounded in human rights and won’t be achieved in Ireland without doing away with the inhumane DP system – widely criticised for infringing on a range of human rights.

Of course, the housing crisis came up repeatedly. Adam in Cork, in full-time employment, is dependent on emergency accommodation because he can’t afford to rent. The daily rejections from landlords. The frustration. It’s no way to live, he told me. Leslie is a community worker in Dublin, living in social housing. Every week she struggles to pay the rent. Rising energy costs keep her awake at night, terrified at the prospect of what else she can cut from her weekly budget. It’s an appalling situation, that gnaws away at her mental health. Like Adam, she says she’s pushed to her limits.

There are thousands of Adams and Leslies being left behind across Ireland because of the housing crisis. To help them, we urgently need more social and affordable housing. But we also need social welfare payments to be pegged to a level that will actually lift people out of poverty.

Marie lives in Longford with her young child. She survives on a one-parent family payment, and while she knows the coal she burns aggravates her asthma and is bad for the climate, she can’t afford to change to a healthier fuel. Marie wants to do the right thing for the climate and her family but without government support to do that she and her child will be left further behind.

Marie’s situation is typical of one-parent families – a group that experiences the highest levels of deprivation in the State. Groups representing one-parent families are calling for social welfare payments to be benchmarked against the average industrial wage to give Marie and others like her some chance of moving forward.

But what Marie’s experience had in common with everyone I spoke to, was a sense of deep frustration at the injustice of the almost insurmountable obstacles they all face to simply survive, never mind to flourish. Leslie captured this poignantly when she told me that it wasn’t her fault she wasn’t born into better circumstances, to provide better for her children. Same for John – it wasn’t his fault he was born with a disability. Nor Adam’s for being a young adult during the worst housing crisis in the history of the State. As long as the State continues to fail these people, they remain stuck, dependent on whatever meagre supports they are entitled to.

Bring everyone along

The SDGs can’t be achieved if the State does not reach these people. However, when Ireland presented its progress report to the UN in New York this month, it insisted we’re doing well overall. For example, it insisted that progress towards achieving zero poverty in Ireland is pretty much achieved.

But that’s only true if you use the UN measure of absolute poverty – living on less than $1.25 a day. Obviously, that’s inappropriate for countries like Ireland. Instead, the State needs to develop country-specific targets and measures for all the Goals, including poverty, that would give a more accurate picture of Irish progress.

The SDGs in Ireland clearly suffer from a lack of political leadership. Being led from the Department of the Environment doesn’t help. Shifting responsibility to the Taoiseach’s Department would at least send a strong political signal.

Another signal of real leadership would be to embed the SDGs into all budgetary and policy-making processes across the State. Currently, they are too much of an afterthought, a nice to have rather than something to drive Irish policy.

None of this would require that much of a stretch for the government. Fulfilling the Goals is really just a case of doing what the State should already be doing – addressing the needs of the furthest behind in our society. But too often the State’s approach to the furthest behind are policies that don’t get implemented (e.g. Climate Action Plan), aren’t sufficiently ambitious (e.g. housing targets) or are once-off measures (e.g. energy credits).

Crucially, decisions are not being made based on human rights – nor on the Sustainable Development Goals. That has to change. The Goals are only as good as the data, resources and leadership that each country puts into them – quality data, resources and leadership. Despite our advocacy at an international level, at the moment Ireland is not putting in a lot and therefore isn’t getting much from them.

But with a step change in political leadership, and hardwiring the Goals into decision-making processes, the SDGs could become the framework around which Ireland reinvents itself as a true SDG champion for all its citizens – especially those furthest behind. Furthest Behind First, or Falling Behind Further? The human stories that challenge Ireland’s claims to be leaving no one behind can be found here.

Sorley McCaughey is an independent freelance public affairs, advocacy and communications strategist. He was Head of Policy at Christian Aid Ireland for 12 years, before which he worked for the UN on governance and anti-corruption programmes in different parts of Africa.

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    Mute Nomis Andrews
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    Dec 14th 2020, 7:37 AM

    Take the vaccine for others benefit even if you dont take it for your own well being.

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    Mute Jonnie Marre
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    Dec 14th 2020, 7:40 AM

    @Nomis Andrews: you hardly think they will take it for someone else’s sake do you!!??

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    Mute Michael Burke
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    Dec 14th 2020, 7:46 AM

    @Jonnie Marre: altruistic much?

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    Mute Nomis Andrews
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    Dec 14th 2020, 7:47 AM

    @Jonnie Marre: It would be nice to think that people would take it for the common good as well as for their own self interest in being safe. The vaccine will only be effective if enough of the population take it. For those who are wavering, thinking of the common good might help them over the line.

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    Mute jeanette
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    Dec 14th 2020, 8:19 AM

    @Jonnie Marre: that’s why we wear masks. To protect others and not ourselves!

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    Mute Hector Son
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    Dec 14th 2020, 8:26 AM

    @jeanette: not really, they protect both!

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    Mute Barry C
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    Dec 14th 2020, 8:27 AM

    @jeanette: we wear masks because we needed to be seen to do something, even if there was no evidence of the benefit.

    Also where can we draw the line on what is acceptable to save others? Wear a mask every winter? Take a vaccine for every communicable disease known? Pay 80% tax to save others….

    Is there anything to be said for, I’ll take my own chances, you take yours?

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    Mute Cian - Wash your
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    Dec 14th 2020, 8:46 AM

    @Barry C: Fine, take your own chances but don’t ever call an ambulance or fire brigade. Stay off the roads and out of the hospitals and schools, don’t claim any form of social welfare or use any government services. You know, all the things that society pays for that we don’t use all of the time because its for the greater good.

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    Mute David Horgan
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:29 AM

    @Barry C: “No evidence of benefit of masks”. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6928e2.htm In short 2 hairdressers with covid who wore masks worked with 139 clients, none of the clients picked up the disease.

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    Mute Barry C
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:59 AM

    @David Horgan: thanks for that. Interesting article that I was unaware of.

    It falls a bit short of a rigorous scientific study with control groups and full testing of all participants etc. It does suggest that masks might work but we have lots of things SUGGESTING that but nothing proving it. Not to a level where it is satisfactory to tell the population ” put a mask on or face prison”

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    Mute Barry C
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:05 AM

    @Cian – Wash your: that’s just a silly response and avoids my question/ point. Where does it stop Cian?

    Face masks forever? Would you wear an adult nappy when you leave the house, like them Chinese airline staff? You know, for the greater good.

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    Mute Purplepickle
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:17 AM

    @Barry C: plenty of evidence that masks not only protect others but also protect the wearer. And in the grand scheme of things wearing a mask in the middle of a pandemic is not a big ask at all. It’s an inconvenience at most and yet you still have people whinging about it. The biggest shock to me was there are people who are anti handwashing in all this . Yuck ! We cannot survive without looking out for the common good btw . Selfishness will only get you so far. Life saving measures don’t compare to other measures like paying tax btw.Especially when it’s simple measures like masks social distancing and hand washing ! It’s easy to think you will never be vulnerable and never dependent on others but the time will come and you will be . Then how you treated others will have taught others how to treat you . Remember that .

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    Mute Ger
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:49 AM

    @Jonnie Marre: I’ve had Covid19 which I hope has given me some level of immunity. But if offered the vaccine I will take it because my siblings are all in their 60s and 70s and I would hate to pass something on to them. I think most younger people will be taking it out of concern for older relatives more so than themselves. I think you underestimate the goodness in the average Irish person

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    Mute William King
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    Dec 14th 2020, 11:14 AM

    @Barry C: we definitely know not wearing a mask won’t stop it, do you agree with that?

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    Mute John Bathe
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    Dec 14th 2020, 3:03 PM

    @Barry C: why do surgeons wear masks in an operating theatre?

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    Mute jeanette
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    Dec 14th 2020, 3:38 PM

    @Barry C: I wear a mask to protect others. It would be great if it would protect me too but evidence just shows it might protect the person wearing it.

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    Mute Gavin Courtney
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    Dec 14th 2020, 8:34 AM

    As far as I’m concerned these vaccines can’t come fast enough. I put my faith in medicine and science to get back as close to normality as we can. The false information and scare mongering regarding covid by anti vaxxers is nothing short of criminal.

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    Mute James Ward
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:05 AM

    @Gavin Courtney: agree on the anti vax people, but I’m weary of the opinion that a fast vaccination will bring us back to normal. While I have hope for mRNA vaccines, especially in cancer care, they have literally just been released. There are a lot of checks and balances that have been bypassed for fast vaccination, so much so that there seems to be an arms race to vaccinate as many people as possible. Any rational scientist would err on the side of caution and long term reviews on side effects, but this is ignored because of the exact anti vax gombeens.

    As a country, we should observe trials elsewhere and keep lockdowns for another few months. Unfortunately, people are literally begging for this to be injected into them at a time when caution is needed.

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    Mute Purplepickle
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:33 AM

    @James Ward: So 22,000 people hit the vaccine . The side effects are minimal . Chances for most people of getting severe Covid 500 to one . I’ll take my chances with the vaccine thanks

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    Mute Ger
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:51 AM

    @James Ward: this might be the first one released but they have been working on Mrna vaccines since the early 2000s and Sars

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    Mute Adrian Versey
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    Dec 14th 2020, 11:06 AM

    @Gavin Courtney: Absolutely true. I have done some research on the Pfizer vaccine and it is a medical marvel I would have complete confidence in its safety.

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    Mute James Ferguson
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    Dec 14th 2020, 11:09 AM

    @Adrian Versey: what’s in it do you know?

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    Mute Bryan Harvey
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    Dec 14th 2020, 11:10 AM

    @James Ward: can you provide me with evidence that lots of checks and balances have been bypassed please ?

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    Mute David Dineen
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    Dec 14th 2020, 11:37 AM

    @James Ward: to really get a true understanding of rna there’s over 40 years of work gone into it, this scaremongering is being fed by…..ignorance https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-women-who-discovered-rna-splicing

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    Mute Terry Cahill
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:16 AM

    It’s Depressing watching the vaccine being rolled out in the UK, US,and now Canada while we are told the EU regulator might be approving one or two by the end of the month and once voted on by the 27 EU countries they will start to distribute .Our Taoiseach says we will get limited supplies in January or February and more in March , April, and May.
    FFS hurry up willya !

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    Mute Purplepickle
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:23 AM

    @Terry Cahill: Here here !!

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    Mute Michael Philips
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:33 AM

    The top of the page says 32 comments. There are 19 in the comments section. Never let it be said that this is an open forum or that the journal do not censor any comments that go even remotely against their narrative.

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    Mute Purplepickle
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:21 AM

    @Michael Philips: Different narratives are fine . Lies and misinformation aren’t different narratives though . They are just lies and misinformation . The journal are most likely removing anti vaxx misinformation posts . The journal have led the way on countering lies and misinformation during this pandemic with their fact check articles . Anti vaxxers always cry censorship when they aren’t allowed spread their lies and misinformation . You should know that. It’s a common tactic .

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    Mute Ger
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:54 AM

    @Michael Philips: in fairness to the journal, and I say this as someone who has been edited by them several times, they don’t claim to be an “open forum” and have Ts&Cs regarding what can and can’t be posted. Do you know what comments were deleted and what “narrative” they went against?

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    Mute whataboutery
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    Dec 14th 2020, 11:24 AM

    @Purplepickle: will you stop their fact checked articles were a stretch at best in most. I’m all for the vaccine but don’t be fooled by cheap media. They used the Pfizer press release as part of their fact check rather than the published papers which came later. Bit of sense is needed in all this too you know

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    Mute Gearóid Ó Tuama
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:13 AM

    Anti-vaxxers get on average 125 points in the leaving cert. Fact.

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    Mute Ger
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:55 AM

    @Gearóid Ó Tuama: I’d be surprised if most of them made it as far as the leaving

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    Mute James Ferguson
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    Dec 14th 2020, 11:15 AM

    @Gearóid Ó Tuama: that’s 125 more than you got I’d say.

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    Mute Gearóid Ó Tuama
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    Dec 14th 2020, 12:42 PM

    @James Ferguson: I got 725, extra points for being so amazing at everything.

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    Mute whataboutery
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    Dec 14th 2020, 1:53 PM

    @Gearóid Ó Tuama: it’s a class issue is it???? Look at the bias. Gwan ya troll

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    Mute whataboutery
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    Dec 14th 2020, 1:54 PM

    @Gearóid Ó Tuama: I hear you’ve a 12 inch tongue and can breather through your ears. The ladies love you I’d say and the bottoms of the boys behind the shed

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    Mute Michael Philips
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:28 AM

    Reposting due to the journal’s censorship policy of deleting any comments they don’t align with their narrative. It is not known if the vaccine reduces transmission or provides immunity – Albert Bourla – CEO Pfizer. Many medical experts have said the same. The vaccine is claimed to suppress symptoms and so will create asymtomatic spreaders. The vaccine cannot have a statistically significant impact in saving lives in under 70’s due to the death rate being so low. Apart from that it’s what we’ve all been waiting for.

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    Mute Purplepickle
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:28 AM

    @Michael Philips: It’s not known YET if it reduces transmission but at the moment the belief is it is . They are just waiting on more data. The vaccine will likely provide full protection in the vast majority of people taking it and for the rest the severe complications will be removed . There are people behind all those statistics . Just because you don’t think you will die doesn’t mean it’s ok if others die. There is 32% of the population of Ireland with underlying conditions . Death rates aren’t higher because of shielding and cocooning by the vast majority of them. These people want very much to get back to work college school and their lives . So this is what we are waiting for .

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    Mute ed w
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:15 AM

    are they really vaccines ? they dont stop you catching covid but reduce symptoms. that sounds like treatmenter to me. yo still have to isolate and social distance everywhere as far as I can see.

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    Mute Fabio Dillon
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:24 AM

    @ed w: bring back red thumbs

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    Mute ed w
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:23 AM

    @Fabio Dillon: why this is what I’m reading in scientific papers that the Pfizer vaccine reduces symptoms it doesnt prevent infection ? or did I read that wrong ?

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    Mute Hubert Morris MIPAV
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    Dec 14th 2020, 8:09 AM

    And the band played on

    What is keeping the role out of vacationing when thousands are dead?
    Who is responsible?
    Why and how many more will die because of the delay?
    Please someone ask the question.

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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Dec 14th 2020, 8:23 AM

    @Hubert Morris MIPAV: commenting while driving Hubert?!

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Dec 14th 2020, 8:26 AM

    @Hubert Morris MIPAV: try following the news a bit more closely instead of demanding answers here. All your answers can be found there. There’s no delay.

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    Mute Terry Cahill
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    Dec 15th 2020, 12:56 AM

    @Paul Furey: not a delay because the regulators for EU have not approved it yet but certainly very slow and no word until 29 th December . everyone will have a nice peaceful christmas with all the work done and hold back the approval til 29th . how convenient . of course it was for safety concerns but I would bet it’s ready for approval and it should be approved and rolling out by now… to save lives I imagine.

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    Mute Paul Dolan
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    Dec 14th 2020, 9:58 AM

    Why does Ronan Glynn always look gloomy

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    Dec 14th 2020, 11:48 AM

    @Paul Dolan: because he is tired from working so hard.

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    Mute David F. Dwyer
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    Dec 14th 2020, 1:06 PM

    @Paul Dolan: He has to report the number of people who are sick or dead on TV everyday. What do you want him to do, whistle Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah?

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    Mute michael macken
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:13 AM

    it would have been better to vaccinate one whole country first to see if it works, say a small country eg iceland has a population of approx half a million or estonia 1 million.

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    Mute Ger
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    Dec 14th 2020, 10:58 AM

    @michael macken: the optics of using one country as Guinea Pigs wouldn’t be great

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    Mute Mary Ward
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    Dec 14th 2020, 4:28 PM

    What the hell is this man talking about have they all decided the EU is rulng on all this and sure they have eve discussed it yet ??

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