Relaxation of Restrictions, Part VIII *Read OP For Mod Warnings*

5th of March I am returning to normal life as much as I can, I will no longer abide by any travel restriction and I will no longer wear a mask in public. If they fine me I won't pay it, if they jail me for not paying the fine then I will stop eating in protest.

Purple Mountain wrote: »

Things are so bad that it's forced one poster to close their account :eek:

Hes off to lead the revolution. Or embarassed himself too much and realised he needed to change.

Edit: appears to have threw a tantrum after getting a threadban.

polesheep wrote: »

Then don't! Change it.

What do you suggest they change?

pjohnson wrote: »

Hes off to lead the revolution. Or embarassed himself too much and realised he needed to change.

Edit: appears to have threw a tantrum after getting a threadban.

What have I missed?

Morning all - and this will be a long post!

I haven't been on here much lately as I'm so completely fed up with the current situation and the overreacting and disproportionate responses from Government never mind boards users to this, that I've been paying as little attention to it as possible. I've just been working away and trying to keep occupied and in touch with friends and family as best I can.

Despite that, I still get the IT/Indo alerts on the phone so I'm not completely out of touch either, and nor am I surprised that there's been screw-ups and delays with vaccines, and that the current restrictions won't be ending as scheduled.

I had a feeling though that despite the falling numbers, they'd try and do what they did last year (think about that for a minute... This crap is going on for a YEAR now!) and have us all in 'lockdown' until May, and what do I see this morning...

Prolonged period of lockdown ahead, Taoiseach tells party meeting (via @IrishTimes) https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/prolonged-period-of-lockdown-ahead-taoiseach-tells-party-meeting-1.4481548

May! Level 5 restrictions to continue until May! :mad:

Well there you have it folks... Almost 7 months of continuous lockdown (the reduced restrictions for the 3 weeks in December aside), brought to you by the weakest, incompetent coalition we've seen in this State to date, and directed by a group of HSE officials whose main responsibility is to deflect from the decades of waste and mismanagement they've stood over!

But, it's not all on them. We also have a population that has been so cowed and fearful that many actually wholeheartedly believe that we are being terrorised by some sort of deadly plague that will get you if you dare venture into the clothing aisle of your local supermarket, and who - in true Irish style - spend more time whinging about what their neighbours are doing or 'getting away with' than anything!

This my friends is what you get when you take no interest in anything beyond your front door. Weak self-serving and unaccountable politicians and bureaucrats who know they can do pretty much whatever they want as there is no accountability (either to the media or constituents), no consequences (except to those who have to pay for it all - financially and otherwise), and most importantly for them, no fear of anything changing.

It's not just in politics either. Look at things like the cost of living, the rental and property market, transport and general infrastructure, health service, cost of education, the farce that is crime and justice, poor and substandard services from public (or former public) bodies and companies, the general levels of waste and (low-level) corruption that exist pretty much everywhere, and so on.

The Irish electorate has become completely disenfranchised in our own country, and we have only ourselves to blame for it. We like to sell ourselves as a modern progressive first world country that is a great place to live and do business in - but in reality we're actually worse off than we were 30/40 years ago in some ways.

So well done everyone. We now live in a State where 5 million people have been locked up for the majority of the last year - and all because we've stood by and watched it happen

It's amazing. There were mass protests and resistance (and rightly so) against water charges and the scandals around it, but not for a virus so deadly that many have to be told they have it before they realise it, and which STILL only really affects a tiny percentage of the population to any significant degree.

A great country to live in indeed!

Purple Mountain wrote: »

I know how you're feeling girl. I'm having those thoughts today.
I've done everything I'm supposed to do and even took my own extra precautions when we were told we could relax a bit. I have kept my side of the bargain.
BUT fluck me, facing into a second summer of being a leper to my friends and extended family. Just one endless groundhog day. No where to go to spend the money I've earned in my adapted work environment, to even enjoy a bloody haircut.
There are several babies of my friends and family that I have never met yet. There are friends I haven't seen in over a year now. Missed birthdays, cancelled sun holiday so desperately earned.
I can't take much more of this absolute sh*tshow.

It’s very little in the grand scheme of this but yesterday I emailed my local TDs to let them know how I felt. I suggest you and anyone else fed up do the same. If enough people do it perhaps they will get the message.

Mine and my families lockdown will be ending on March 1st i don't care what anyone else says.

In reply to Kaisers post, what can we do ?
I'm at the stage now where ok there has to be some sort of a plan towards the virus but I would love to take part in a peaceful , maybe not protest but some sort of organised message sent to the government that they need to get real.
Maybe someone can set up a point of contact/signature collection where we can sign our names and have it sent off.
Something just to let them know theres a growing number looking for change.

I think the tide is turning, people have had enough. You can see it on the journal comments. The majority of comments are against lockdown now.

SnuggyBear wrote: »

I think the tide is turning, people have had enough. You can see it on the journal comments. The majority of comments are against lockdown now.

Its been apparently been "turning" since April 2020.

Hmob wrote: »

Overall the way I see it

Novel virus, so inevitable that we must lockdown and await vaccines

Vaccines are here and sickness and death will soon decline

Soon people must take back their freedom from conservative government afraid to act

I wouldn't be too sure about that. MM on the radio there talking about this requiring a global level of vaccinations being required before easing of restrictions.

JRant wrote: »

I wouldn't be too sure about that. MM on the radio there talking about this requiring a global level of vaccinations being required before easing of restrictions.

surely it would make more sense for oecd countries to come to a resolution on travel once their populations have been sufficiently vaccinated than waiting on countries without the infrastructure or desire to mass vaccinate to do so. this is a serious shift of the goalposts

gmisk wrote: »

Ah the journal comments section the true pulse of the nation...lol

I knew it wouldn't be long until someone said this. It is good guage infairness, there used to be a lot of support for lockdown but not now.
I ask you do you think people are at breaking point or not? The light at the end of the tunnel has been extinguished.