Covid 19 Part XXXV-956,720 ROI (5,952 deaths) 452,946 NI (3,002 deaths) (08/01) Read OP

They're both private lobby groups with an agenda who are on the record as using manipulative tactics to influence public opinion in the direction they want. Do you think it's ok for a public service broadcaster to give either one any kind of official, neutral, "news" platform without clearly informing the public as to who the content was written by and what agenda it represents?

We'll probably see 120/130 in hospital over the weekend but drop back to 90ish come Monday evening.

We'll still see news stories about Hospitalisations on the rise again though.

So happy to see politicians finally admit that the link between cases and ICU is finally broken.

Bit of common sense prevails

"Never attribute to malice, that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

I do think there's a caveat in this case though. There's a serious feeling that preventing young people from socialising and in all probability binge drinking while doing so is seen as "killing two birds with one stone", maybe not even by the government but certainly by some members of NPHET and I would wager some officials within the department of health.

To go galaxy brained for a moment, minimum alcohol pricing is coming in this December - wouldn't it just be wonderful if we could keep nightclubs, raves and concerts off the agenda until after that, so that broke college kids never get the opportunity to be noisy and rowdy at night cough I mean, damage their health in this way ever again?

Again, I'm not saying that this is necessarily the case, but it's a real possibility which shouldn't be discounted. These people have always despised Ireland's session culture and at the very, very least, forcefully killing it like this is surely something they see as a happy coincidence.

Each business can decide for themselves what they want to do, plenty will probably open but those that don't open I do wonder what they plan on doing when the weather turns & we aren't getting this weather it's not suitable for outdoor dining, the stance I suspect will change quite quickly. Likewise if this does continue until the 3 months of legislation are up, outdoor dining in September & October won't be suitable quite possibly. Their hand might be forced on it.

Others simply have to open to have any sort of business to come back to, they've been closed 17 months

Ah yeah come then it's definitely not a runner.

My view on it is everywhere can make their own minds up what they want to do but even in the next few weeks if / when the weather changes they might not have much choice but to go along with it. It could be either that or not open for business

They're sacrificing their business for an increasingly small pool of unvaccinated, soon to be the hardcore only. The vaccine restrictions indoors aren't going away any time soon as the hoped for herd immunity cannot be reached thanks to the infectiousness of Delta.

The businesses getting up on their high horse about this better have a plan to get down if they want their businesses to survive. I like those saying they won't reopen because their staff have not been vaccinated yet, they have provided themselves an "out", but any staying closed because of "discrimination" will be marching back down that hill before long.

As a somewhat related point, I really hope pubs fully ban smoking on the premises since outdoor drinking and dining is such an established thing at this point. It's absolutely disgusting to be seated near some filthy smoker while trying to enjoy dinner and drinks in this lovely weather. This post-covid reopening is a great chance for the knee to be further pressed onto the neck of the tobacco industry.

RAI tweeting This evening that you will NOT need the Covid feet for indoor and the vaccination card will be sufficient as per Failte ireland

If I owned a pub and had staff that weren't vaccinated I sure as hell would hope I'd be hesitant at least. We're being told it isn't safe for them to be on the premises eating/drinking there for a shorter time period than a work shift and with way less interaction with other people. The safety and wellbeing of your staff should come before profits in an ideal world. Heck even if you don't agree with their evaluation of the situation, as a society we should applaud businesses who have a conscience. The idea of mocking ANY business that sacrifices profits to protect their staff seems ludicrous to me tbh.

Likewise any bar that feels the current situation as of today is indirect age discrimination should be able to put that forward as a legitimate concern to keep indoors closed for now. That may be different in 6-8 weeks when any 18 year old that wants it can be fully vaccinated. This one though is more up for debate I feel, but not the former situation..

The comparison to retail seems a bit off. If you work in retail unvaccinated you can shop there off duty. And sure sitting with up to 5 friends/family without a mask on for a couple of hours might be more of a risk than interacting with a lot of strangers while you wear a mask, some of them if under 18 unvaccinated, for 8 ish hours, but it seems fair to argue that that isn't clear and obvious. This isn't mask versus no mask while using that freedom to lick everyone in arms reach.

As for the bars that want to wait until staff are vaccinated, none that I saw are saying they are waiting for all staff to be fully vaccinated, but rather to have the opportunity to be. If they're saying the same in mid September it would come across a bit different I agree.

I don't see the bad press argument. Most people seem to think that this is better than keeping indoor dining closed so if they were playing favourtism I doubt this would be the route. Hell check out panti bar's most recent review on trip advisor abusing them over not opening.

Do you actually believe this? I have every respect for people but you are bordering on the ludicrous now and dare I say it, trolling!

how is England a basket case?

Seriously,are we that petrified of normality?

I thought the goal was normality when the vulnerable were vaccinated?

I’ve said it before,the mental damage and indoctrination of risk aversion in Ireland will take generations to cure

stadium's were packed in Europe 2 months ago, 500 fans will be at an AI quarter final in Thurles today and we will give indoor dining a try next week

in a way when compared to Europe Ireland never fully left lockdown so it’s hard to go back into lockdown when you didn’t fully reopen