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notwhoyouthink wrote: »

Did Joe discuss the passing of HRH Prince Philip?

The Sean Whelan fellow said there would be no emotional outpouring due to his age. I thought it was a very bad piece.

And the Tubridy fellow seems to have no time for such coverage.

I expected more of Joe, not the others though.

RTE didn't even do a breaking news piece. Disgraceful.

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Seriously?

The High Court will be asked to decide if a woman in mandatory hotel quarantine is being detained by the State.

The woman, who is vaccinated against Covid-19 and has shown a negative test after arriving from Israel, has taken a High Court action under Article 40 of the Constitution challenging what she says is her unlawful detention.

However before deciding whether or not her detention is lawful, the court will have to decide if she is in custody.

Lawyers representing Inbar Aviezer told the High Court the State will have to "take a coherent position" on the issue and either defend her detention or she is not in detention.

Ms Aviezer has been quarantining at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel, near Dublin Airport, since Wednesday after taking a flight from Israel.

Her lawyers went to the High Court this afternoon to ask that the court order an inquiry into her detention.

The case was adjourned for a number of hours to allow the Minister for Health to be notified.

The judge then adjourned the case until tomorrow after barrister John Gallagher said the State needed more time to consider the complex and important issues raised in the application.

A preliminary issue in the case will be if Ms Aviezer is actually detained as a matter of law.

The inquiry under Article 40.4.2 of the constitution into the legality of her detention has been brought against the Minister for Health, and TIFCO Ltd and TIFCO Management Services (Ireland) Ltd, the owners and operators of the hotel where she is currently located.

Senior Counsel for Ms Aviezer, Conor Power said that while "the doors of her hotel room are unlocked", she must stay in her room for most of the day, and she receives her meals in the room. Mr Power said his client says she is being detained, and that the detention is not lawful.


"It is very much her case that the quarantine regime amounts to a form of detention, which breaches his client's constitutional right to liberty," he said.

It was accepted that the State must take measures to protect public health in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Counsel also told the court that the decision to require her to quarantine at a hotel was in Ms Aviezer's case is "disproportionate."

Counsel said that there was a failure to take into account important considerations including that client has been vaccinated for Covid-19 in Israel, and had tested negative for Covid-19 on two occasions in the last few days.

On arrival she was told she would have to quarantine for up to 14 days, and would have to pay €1,850 to cover the costs of her stay at a designated hotel.

If she were to leave the hotel, she faces the prospect of being arrested by the gardaí and being brought back to the hotel.

Anyone who fails or refuses to undergo the mandatory quarantine could end up receiving a criminal record as well as being fined and or being jailed for a month, Mr Power said, adding that his client does not wish to break the law.

Ms Aviezar moved to Ireland to be with her fiancée and is due to start a new job in the healthcare sector at the end of the month, the court was told. She is a citizen of Switzerland, Israel and the United States.

When she arrived in Ireland she did not know about the mandatory requirement to quarantine at a designated hotel, counsel said.

After considering counsel's submissions Mr Justice Allen, who questioned if Ms Aviezer could actually be considered to be detained, and if so, who was actually detaining her, said he was prepared to hear the application for an inquiry in the presence of lawyers for the State.

The judge also expressed his scepticism, without determining the issue, to the proposition that the hotel owner and operator are in fact detaining any person subject to the mandatory quarantine.

Ms Aviezer viewed the proceedings by video link.