Cheers mate, well played yourselfâŚ
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Holohan has to answer questions about that Irish Times article. Particularly considering what WHO said recently.
Someone has to ask it first though.
QED
We could have a day of having zero covid cases but never consistently
Correct, but they wonât be let.
Thereâs no Government advertising revenue in asking about the emperorâs new clothes.
Can someone post that up
I think if anything weâve seen how incredibly willing people are to give up their rights completely. They were worried we wouldnât last three weeks at the start. Weâll be at it for over a year shortly
We have no politicians or journalists with backbone⌠None of them are willing to stick their head above the parrot pit.
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My 94 year old auntie got a call about the vaccines a few days ago asking if she could come to the GP surgery to get it.
She has been housebound for well over a year. Can barely move with artrithis. GP is understandably wary given the storage issues with Pfizer and Moderna.
Holohan vetoed the advice of NIAC on this issue potentially needlessly creating this massive issue.
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Correct. The long-term damage will be the result of our state shifting from policing by consent to policing by unquestioned authoritarianism.
I thought it was a very clever pun myself, so I did.
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All happily repeating their masters squawks
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Chaps, I mentioned a week or two back that a grandaunt of mine got the Covid.
She is 100 (I incorrectly aged her at 101). However, sheâs currently kicking the fucking thing to touch. She had her first jab of the vaccine about a week before she got the virus, and they reckon thatâs what has saved her. A little old West Limerick woman up in the capital, who was never taller than 5 ft 
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Iâd a good aul giggle at that.
If you havenât watched itâŚ
Sir Charles Walker could free Ireland on his own.
True about the EU but there are countries who have actually started to open up, @balbec posted about some restrictions being lifted a couple of weeks ago.
Expect to hear âcautious and conservativeâ line ad nauseam over coming weeks
Good morning.
Though it is four weeks away, attention in Government is turning to what happens after the current lockdown expires on March 5th, and how many of the current restrictions can be lifted. Donât get your hopes up: the Taoiseach stressed yesterday that the bulk of restrictions would be staying in place after March 5th, telling his parliamentary party last night that a period of prolonged suppression of the virus is in store, as Harry McGee reports .
And despite assertions by both TĂĄnaiste Leo Varadkar and the Minister for Housing Darragh OâBrien in recent days that construction would reopen on March 5th, there was pointedly no reference to this by Mr Martin yesterday when he told the DĂĄil that there would be no âsignificant reopeningâ in March. Many people in and around Government expect no great relaxation of restrictions until Easter. Expect to hear the âcautious and conservativeâ line ad nauseam over the coming weeks.
In fact, the focus in Government is as much on tightening up restrictions as it is on planning for reopening. The legislation for mandatory hotel quarantine is due next week and officials are currently wrestling with the details, as our lead story reports this morning.
There is better news on schools, however. Special schools reopen today, while the teaching unions â or some of them, anyway â edge toward co-operation with a more general reopening. Carl OâBrien reports this morning on what is the only question for many parents .
The DĂĄil also debated zero-Covid yesterday, as Marie OâHalloran reports . But while there was much talk from Opposition TDs of the benefits of achieving zero-Covid, there was much less detail about what would be required to get there. My analysis of the Governmentâs cautious creep towards reopening, and its rejection of zero-Covid, is here .
Jennifer Bray has a guide to the emerging quarantine plans while Miriam Lordâs take on yesterdayâs exchange is here . Meanwhile, there is continuing concern about the level of people returning home from holidays, as Cormac McQuinn reports .
Related
- Covid-19: Government focuses on foreign travel restrictions
- Relations between Dublin and Brussels plummet to freezing over Article 16 fiasco
- Covid-19: A new model for pandemic policy emerges
The Greens continue to struggle with the realities of Government. The EUâs free trade deal with Canada â which the DĂĄil is due to vote on â is a festering sore, with significant opposition within the Greens conflicting with the acceptance of the political leadership and the parliamentary party that they will just have to swallow it. But Eamon Ryan eked out some breathing space yesterday when the Government agreed to refer the issue to an Oireachtas committee for examination, further postponing a vote. Ryan had to backtrack , however, on his reluctance of sign off on a new road in the Moyross area in Limerick (roads were always going to be a flashpoint) but he has made progress in efforts to tackle atmospheric pollution . Win-lose-compromise. Such is life in a coalition.
Playbook
Lots of Government legislation in the DĂĄil today, and thereâs Leadersâ Questions at 12 due to be taken by Leo Varadkar. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will take questions on the vaccine rollout at 1pm. The full schedule, including three committees meeting in private session, is here .
There are briefings by the HSE and by Nphet scheduled for the afternoon and evening.
In Washington, the impeachment trial of Donald Trump continues . Michael Gove and Maros Sefcovic meet in London amid continuing fallout from the EUâs aborted attempt to trigger article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol and trade difficulties between Great Britain and the North.
And there is snow forecast for the east of the country. So wrap up.
Finally, itâs a year since the general election. Some ruminations and sundry windbagging on the subject on this weekâs podcast, available here , or wherever you get your podcasts, as they say.
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England will have 50 percent of its population vaccinated by the end of may.
Ireland probably wonât have the over 70s done.
Casinos are opening here today! The hotels are back from tomorrow at 50% occupancy (mar dhea). Not a peep about the schools though. Weâre at about 100 cases per 100k population for the last two weeks.
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