The level 5 restrictions weren't working. People were visiting each other in their homes. That is what is causing the infection rate to remain high. Drinking in the street will have limited impact on infection rates as it is, by its nature, a well ventilated area.Opportunity lost - Wet pubs allowed to serve take away alcohol and we haven't learned from recent outdoor congregations of groups. Restaurants to be allowed some indoor dining - realistically unpoliced. Gastro pubs to be allowed to open provided the food is prepared within - but in a "controlled environment." I wonder why I don't trust most publicans and most restauranteurs?
Too much trust being placed on the vaccines roll-out but the virus will not disappear overnight. The government has just handed Covid-19 a platform to increase it's dreadful toll of death and infection. And the controlled environments of pubs and restaurants are going to save us? Not a chance! We'll be staying indoors, self distancing and wearing masks for a long time yet to come.
The hope was when the last restrictions were imposed was to reduce the death rate, the daily infections to under 50 (currently 200+ and lowest for some time, but nowhere near <50). Our R number was to be reduced to less than 0.5 and we're not near that.
The level 5 restrictions weren't working. People were visiting each other in their homes. That is what is causing the infection rate to remain high. Drinking in the street will have limited impact on infection rates as it is, by its nature, a well ventilated area.
If level 5 restrictions were kept we'd just get more household gatherings and more infections anyway.
Too much trust being placed on the vaccines roll-out but the virus will not disappear overnight.
There is the enormous cost of level 5, the economic cost, Pascal Donohue said it cost at least an extra billion euros on top of the costs of the level 3 restrictions. He also gave a startling statistic that on the night of going back into level 5, the domestic violence helpline reported a doubling in the number of calls they received. When you close everything down like that you also imprison people in intolerable situations where previously they had some escape valves.I agree, the Level 5 restrictions were short of the mark. Therefore, we should have remained at Level 5 and make them work.
Yep, Like I said, it was a decision based on commerce.There is the enormous cost of level 5, the economic cost, Pascal Donohue said it cost at least an extra billion euros on top of the costs of the level 3 restrictions.
There is the enormous cost of level 5, the economic cost, Pascal Donohue said it cost at least an extra billion euros on top of the costs of the level 3 restrictions. He also gave a startling statistic that on the night of going back into level 5, the domestic violence helpline reported a doubling in the number of calls they received. When you close everything down like that you also imprison people in intolerable situations where previously they had some escape valves.
I agree, the Level 5 restrictions were short of the mark. Therefore, we should have remained at Level 5 and make them work. Many people have become too relaxed having battled the situation since March. We're not hearing enough about New Zealand and Australia where the battle has got better results. We've come a long way and at this late stage it appears we're caving in to commercial screaming.
I've great regard and respect for Dascal Donohue. He is considered and measured in what he says and what he does. He is by far the best minister in this or any recent government. I listen to whatever he says as it's always worth listening to.Something must have been seriously dysfunctional in the situations to erupt like that, that people needed escape valves?
It sounds more like a bomb waiting to go off than one planted by the lockdown.
And many other crimes dropped during the previous lockdown, including crimes against the person overall.
We don't have stats for the current one, but we could expect some sort of drop there again.
So the whole area of secondary effects is messy and complicated and has positives and negatives.
Donohue is the Minister for Finance, he should speak from that remit.
See that's at the heart of this and, without wishing to sound like a broken record, why has one of the most highly funded and well resourced healthcare systems in the world utterly failed to sufficiently increase its ICU capacity in the last 9 months?Even if you had twice the ICU capacity, you would just be buying more time before the case count gets too high.
The level 5 restrictions weren't working.
Exactly. The government governs with the consent of the people. For public health guidelines, or laws, to work they require the buy in of the people. When small business owners see their life's work turn to dust because the it is easier for Gardai to keep them closed than it is to stop house parties, despite house parties being a much bigger cause of infection, that small business owner can legitimately question the validity of, and the justice in, the actions of the State.Firstly, they were working not just effectively enough
Secondly, why were they not working to the hoped-for extent? My view is that sufficient numbers of people were disrespecting the guidelines. The key here is compliance.
It seems to me that a substantial cohort is not respecting the guidelines. There is a house near me, for example, where students from Trinity are, on a couple of nights a week, congregating in serious numbers.
See that's at the heart of this and, without wishing to sound like a broken record, why has one of the most highly funded and well resourced healthcare systems in the world utterly failed to sufficiently increase its ICU capacity in the last 9 months?
It's now a seriously neglected demographic, the small business owner, there is nobody at the cabinet now that voices their concerns anymore especially since this new government, most of the cabinet is under 45, urban, predominantly from the public sector in work experiences. It is noticeable how powerless the publicans are now, yes maybe they had too much say in the past but we are going from one extreme to the other, it is the varadkarisation of Irish politics that is the predominant power nowExactly. The government governs with the consent of the people. For public health guidelines, or laws, to work they require the buy in of the people. When small business owners see their life's work turn to dust because the it is easier for Gardai to keep them closed than it is to stop house parties, despite house parties being a much bigger cause of infection, that small business owner can legitimately question the validity of, and the justice in, the actions of the State.
I find it strange that many of the same people who say that politicians are overpaid also lament the lack of representation from the private sector. Teachers and Lawyers become politician s because they can walk back into their old job if they lose their seat. That's why there are so many of them in the Dail.It's now a seriously neglected demographic, the small business owner, there is nobody at the cabinet now that voices their concerns anymore especially since this new government, most of the cabinet is under 45, urban, predominantly from the public sector in work experiences. It is noticeable how powerless the publicans are now, yes maybe they had too much say in the past but we are going from one extreme to the other, it is the varadkarisation of Irish politics that is the predominant power now
True but very few countries spend so much on their healthcare system and when adjusted for demographics only Luxemburg spends more than us. We should be top of the league, not in the middle. We didn't stop as many hospital services as some others because we had longer and deeper lockdowns.Depends what you mean by heart of the matter...
These restrictions and lockdowns are happening all across Europe, even in countries with significantly higher ICU capacity than we have.
If you let the virus run unchecked, no amount of ICU capacity will be enough.
More ICU capacity buys you more time at say Level 2 v 3 or Level 3 v 5.
Other countries have stopped many other hospital services in this phase, we did not. That was another reason for the restrictions.
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