Such a throwaway comment and fuck all to back it up
We got additional work packs and a remote learning alternative when our kid went back
Youâll have plenty of time to go baking, m8.
This is the school in Abbeyfeale now closed cos of the sanitiser scandal
https://twitter.com/aileen_dillane/status/1319545786544291841?s=19
Absolutely.
By the way, fair fucks to anyone going in and out of a school every day. Easy for lads WFH to take pot shots.
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We are being infantilised with promises of Christmas
Diarmaid Ferriter
If the Government is hoping the chorus of criticism of its handling of the Covid-19 crisis will dissipate through our pulling together and sucking up the lockdown, it is likely to be disappointed.
This week the Taoiseach offered us admissions of failure, apparent in his contentions that a zero-Covid strategy for the island in not possible, that borders must remain open and that we will likely be subjected to the yo-yo of lockdowns indefinitely.
That this is not âliving with Covid-19â is self-evident and another indication of mismanagement given that this was the mantra wrapped around the Governmentâs five-phase plan that, in any case, it refuses to follow.
We have been subjected to no shortage of admonishments in recent weeks. Prof Philip Nolan of Nphet was asked on Wednesday when we might expect the peak of Covid-19 deaths and cases, and his response was that âdepends on how people are behaving. I donât like using the word âbehavingâ but itâs the only way to express itâ.
No, it is not. He should replace the word âbehavingâ with the word âlivingâ.
We have been infantilised with the promise that if we improve our âbehaviourâ we might get a slice of Christmas.
To do what exactly? Shop and celebrate with the inevitable result that we will endure more lockdown?
Realistic plan
Honing cliched words about resilience, solidarity and the âbest of usâ fills up the space that should be afforded to testing and tracing, hospital capacity, health staff shortages and airport and port traffic. Weâve all heard the exhausted Heaney line about wintering this one out, the problem being, there is no summer that is part of any realistic plan.
We now have a layer of doctors and other highly qualified experts who are not convinced about the current approach.
The Mater hospitalâs infectious diseases consultant Prof Jack Lambert has argued that the Government so far has âsacrificed our economy for poorly thought through decisions, made in a void, without appropriate multi-sector stakeholder engagementâ and that the State should be âfinding ways to keep the virus at bay, not to count the numbers and to threaten lockdown measures which cause further erosions to our already fragile societyâ.
He was quickly shot down by Prof Nolan.
But even the public health experts and epidemiologists who agree with Nphetâs stringent approach have frequently added the reminder that periods of lockdown should be used to address the systemic problems in the health service infrastructure, knowing full well, as we all do, that this will not happen.
And the fragility referred to by Prof Lambert has the potential to be grave, not only in relation to other health problems, mental and physical, but in relation to social stability in what has been a remarkably stable country, politically and socially, for a long time.
It is obvious that Nphet, dominated by Department of Health and HSE voices, is not representative enough.
Will more thought be given now to the suggestion in the Governmentâs document from June about the governance structures of Nphet that its composition âmay change further over time in line with the expertise required across the responseâ?
Reports this week that the Government âfearsâ Nphet will advise another lockdown after Christmas highlight the extraordinary centralisation of power in Nphet.
Famous editorials
I was reminded of one of this newspaperâs famous editorials, from April 1951, when it reacted to the scuppering of then minister for health Noel Browneâs plan for improved mother and child healthcare at the behest of the Catholic bishops who regarded it as an unacceptable reach of State power: âThe most serious revelation, however, is that the Roman Catholic Church would seem to be the effective government of this country.â
Nphet appear to be the 2020 version of the Catholic bishops in 1951 and a Government duly obeys.
There was also a plan to spend just 45 minutes âdebatingâ the extension of emergency health legislation which, to its credit, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties robustly challenged by reminding TDs of their obligations to properly scrutinise exceptionally coercive powers.
We need to remember a solemn contribution to the DĂĄil proceedings on March 27th when the Covid-19 emergency was beginning to hit home: âThere is a fine balance to be struck between supporting a common message to the public and maintaining space for asking tough questions and pointing to areas where more action may be required.
âThis is a balance which is particularly important for us and the media to consider. Over the past five decades, an entire discipline has developed to analyse how to get the best possible response to major emergencies.
âOne consistent lesson from this work has been that we need to make sure there remains a space for debate and for challenging messages. Everyone being on the same side does not remove the need to ask questions.â
They were the words of MicheĂĄl Martin.
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Tweet deleted. Norma got to her
May as well get a head start on the midterm.
Fear rampant here this morning.
Definite shift in public opinion in recent days/weeks of the government & NPHET/HSE handling of this.
People are slowly beginning to see through the lunacy of these extremely onerous and restrictive measures.
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Ferriter will never been again in Public after that article
The little one was sent home yesterday with all her books from school, seemingly all the kids were. I think the mid term break maybe getting extended.
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Gardai diverting traffic off N8 motorway Southbound at Glanmire exit for a gawk & quick hello.
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This is very good article and I would suggest reasonably fair.
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They are all coming out of the long grass now they can sense a shift in the mood. Cowardly but understandable
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Like a lad waiting to see what way the crowd is moving and then runs in to front of them shouting âLets go this wayâ
People would comply if they felt we were achieving something.
Weâre not.
They realise itâs all a cod.
I have rarely seen the roads as busy at any time this year as I have this morning. Public buy in must be at an all time low. Sheer incompetence and apathy is what done it. Hard to keep a captive audience all of the time even to the most ardent of disciples. Not even 2500 guards and threat of fines and imprisonment can sustain this one.
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Schools just been proactive.
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Iâd imagine itâs very unlikely thereâs some grand conspiracy involving every school in Ireland that theyâve managed to keep secret. They are sending them home in case, because fucks knows what our glorious leaders will come up with next
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