Thereās some great posters on this thread whoāve literally changed my mind and maybe a few more posters minds on the issue but lord thereās some woeful dunderheads too who completely try too hard to play to the gallery and totally over exaggerate everything. There was a fella on the other night criticising the fact that there was a table between Claire Byrne and stephen donnelly on prime time.
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that was one of the greatest things ever seen on here, he even deleted his own account with embarrassment
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Like a child who runs away and comes home for dinner.
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What does that have to do with the price of bacon?
You would be surprised
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ā¬16k. Should he a lesson to not be anyway proactive with these idiots in charge who move the goalposts daily.
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Lads fighting for a living against the medical junta.
You and the Iām Alright Jacks need to come down out of your ivory towers.
Itās absolutely tragic that itās come to this for fellas trying to run a business. Spending more money to renovate the orignal renovations because some apparatchik keeps changing the rules
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NPHET Now in Control of Countryās Economic and Social Policy
Stephen Collins
Public confidence in the Government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has been eroded by the manner in which both have behaved in recent weeks.
That is likely to have serious implications for the level of compliance with what is the most severe lockdown in the European Union as people increasingly question whether those in charge have any coherent strategy.
The Government flip flops on the Nphet demand for a move to a Level 5 lockdown does not inspire confidence that the three Coalition leaders have the courage to make the right decisions in the wider public interest when faced with the conflicting pressures arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nearly three weeks ago the Coalition rejected the peremptory demand from Nphet that the country should move immediately to Level 5. Instead they opted for a tightening of existing Level 3 rules. Then, in the face of insistent pressure from Nphet as the number of infections continued to grow, it appeared last weekend that a move to Level 4 was on the cards.
There have to be serious questions about why Ireland has adopted a harsher form of lockdown than any other EU member state
On Monday, though, it all changed again when the Coalition leaders caved in and decided there was no alternative to a move to Level 5, despite strong objections not only from Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath, who are responsible for the survival of the economy, but from Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly as well.
The Governmentās loss of nerve means that Nphet is now in control of the countryās economic and social policy. Yet the people who run it are essentially those who have failed to prepare the health system for the second wave of the virus and are responsible for the shambles that has engulfed the test-and-trace system.
Related
Life under Level 5: Where can I go, who can I see, what is closed and what is open?
Westmeath nursing home says it is dealing with Covid-19 outbreak
One of countryās main labs unable to process Covid-19 tests over weekend due to staff shortages
No exit strategy
Between them the Government and Nphet have decided that the only response to the virus is a national lockdown from which there is no exit strategy. If the numbers donāt come down sufficiently by late November will the response be to keep the country in lockdown indefinitely?
There have to be serious questions about why Ireland has adopted a harsher form of lockdown than any other EU member state. It is not as if the infection rate here is the worst. In fact we are in the middle of the league table, well behind countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and France, while ahead of Germany and the Nordic countries.
The only policy on offer from the authorities appears to be an endless series of lockdowns until the virus has run its course, whenever that will be
All of those countries are implementing a mix of measures to try and slow the spread of the virus which, thankfully, is not proving nearly as deadly in terms of deaths as the first wave. So far none of them have implemented an Irish-style lockdown with all the social and economic consequences that it entails.
The shutting down of almost all retail business, apart from supermarkets, will have a devastating impact on employment and mental health, even though there is little evidence that shopping is a major spreader of Covid-19. It does make sense to keep pubs closed but why are shops and hairdressers, who have implemented strict protocols to deal with Covid-19, closed as well?
It hasnāt escaped notice that there are very few women involved in the decision-making process that led to the lockdown. Is it purely a coincidence that GAA championships and rugby internationals will proceed while hairdressers, beauticians, barbers and bookshops are closed?
Implemented curfews
As well as implementing a more nuanced form of lockdown many other countries have implemented curfews to curb mass gatherings where the virus can spread like wildfire. There appears to be no appetite here for curfews probably because they would be very difficult for the gardaĆ to enforce.
The level of penalties and the scale of enforcement is another big difference between Ireland and other EU states. There are few sanctions here for individuals who defy restrictions, and that is probably one of the reasons for the resurgence of the virus. As so often happens in this country the law-abiding majority is punished while the irresponsible minority goes on its merry way.
It is impossible to know how effective the lockdown over the coming month will be in reining in the spread of the virus and ensuring that the hospital system is not put under severe pressure. So far at least that has not happened. While Covid-19 hospital admissions have been rising the hospital system still has hundreds of free beds.
The Level 5 lockdown may ensure that the number of infections and hospital admissions slows but, even if it does, there is no chance that Covid-19 will have vanished by early December. The current strategy appears to be an easing of restrictions at that stage to save Christmas but what will happen after that?
The only policy on offer from the authorities appears to be an endless series of lockdowns until the virus has run its course, whenever that will be. Society and the economy will be left in a shattered condition by such repeated hammer blows. The Government badly needs to find the courage and the imagination, so sadly lacking in recent weeks, to come up with an alternative strategy for 2021. Joining a common EU-wide policy to tackle Covid-19 is probably our best hope.
See I look at that and I donāt see tragedy. I see optimism. A guy who is willing to do what is needed to push on. Not look around in self pity about what other people canāt do. Itās guys like that who will come out of this ahead of the pack.
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Itās admirable ingenuity and Iād wish them nothing but success. If it keeps them open and their employees at work itās fantastic. I just think itās sad that itās happening
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Disgusting misogyny by Stephen Collins.
Lads, if youāre genuinely worried about the societal impact of this, here are a few things iāve done during the lockdowns
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Thereās an old lady who is isolated near us, she is an absolutely 100% human being. My kid loves her. During the last lockdown and this, she rings the missus with a shopping list (the hello magazines and puzzles, fags and bacardi). Iād run them up to her and smoke a few fags with her (socially distanced)
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Thereās an auld lad down the road who is on his own, he is able to do his own shopping and what not but he would be terrible lonely. I go down to Roches point when the boats are coming in and get a few mackerel for him off the fishermen. Weād have the socially distant chat a few times a week.
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While the schools were closed but things were opening up, I organised a sports day for the kids in the estate, with trophies and sweets and pops for them. A fun day with three legged races and that. They loved it and the parents were a lot closer after
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I organised a system in the neighbourhood where numbers were exchanged between households, if one family went down with covid they could depend on another family to do the shopping, help with appointments, anything really, luckily enough we havenāt had to use it yet
Thereās lots you could be doing if you stopped focusing on what you canāt be doing
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That was all well and good in March & I had posted the article on Forest Avenue doing it.
At the start there were queues around the corner daily, there arenāt queues anymore. Iāve talked to the fella that runs it and it is far more difficult than it was at the start.
In terms of Michaels, it will be okay given where it is.
But there are a great many places who simply cannot do that. It isnāt for want of entrepreneurship, itās down to location and the restrict nature of same.
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I was down in St Anneās Park for a couple of hours earlier. Groups of people meeting up for coffee, sitting out at the picnic tables chatting, walking together with kids and/or dogs. While the coffee shop is takeaway only and has all the Covid precautions, it seemed to me like the people were doing their own thing with very little pass being put on only meeting up with one other household outside.
How many people have you killed?
I had a good hard think about it, the kids were all playing together anyway so the risk was there, itās a small estate but they were getting feral, they were out playing without direction. I asked all the parents and even families without parents if they were ok, if even one was against it, I wouldnāt have gone ahead.
Nobody died.