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

I think you need a new rhetoric.. you're all over these threads repeating the same line.

Wear your mask wherever you wish if it makes you feel safer (and I mean that sincerely) - HOWEVER that doesn't entitle you to attack others because they don't feel the same level of threat or risk you apparently do on the subject.

The reality, after 18 months of evidence, is that Covid is of little real threat to the vast majority of adults in this country, and even less so to children. There is no justification for making 9 year olds wear a mask in a classroom other than appeasing hysterical overreactive types. Given we live in a country populated with a noisy minority of these, and have a Taoiseach terrified of making a decision he might be held accountable for generally, it's no surprise he has - once again - bowed to NPHET and Holohan's leaks and grandstanding in the media over the last week.

But that doesn't make it right, and it certainly doesn't make it necessary.

And what risk assessments were carried out during our pandemic response?

It wasn't on the effects to non COVID care because that's been left by the wayside.

It wasn't on the effects locking down for so long would have on the economy and borrowing billions of euros for the pleasure.

It certainly wasn't the effects on children who've been roundly ignored by the government since this started and are now being asked to cocoon to protect d'vulnerable. MM said today that it would cost a whooping 80 million to fit all schools with filters. Sure, ya can't be doing that. No, it's better to spunk countless hundreds of millions on those beautiful "gold standard" PCR tests.

This actually makes sense on one level - to keep immunising against variants. In the papers today some vaccine manufacturers stated that a vaccine against the new variant could take up to 8 months. Others stated that current vaccines would protect against varients …and for added confusion the opposite in other headlines!

There are some distinctions however on innate vs adaptive (vaccine induced) immunity. Some scientists claim that vaccine induced immunity accelerates a virus’s evolutionary trajectory to mutate at a more rapid speed…which can cause greater problems as time goes on.

…. which leads me to an interesting interview (someone shared with me) with a leading scientist -a rare exception since he has qualifications+experience in multiple fields -immunology, virology, pharmacology, vaccine development & global interventions. He had a senior role with the Gates Foundation and other high profile organisations. His name is Geert Vanden Bossche. The interview was on a website called thehighwire- the guy seemed pretty knowledgeable & genuinely concerned about some of the decisions being made globally & that scientists seemed to be locked into groupthink for fear of being ostracised. Anyway it was interesting to hear some dialogue on how the immune system functions -vaccine benefits in addition to problems that can arise and how natural immunity can slow the mutation of viruses.

It is important to hear different voices & opinions on the issue since we are in new territory with all this - science allows for debate … but this ‘new science’ era we are in seems to be doing the opposite which is unusual.

So watching the 6.1 and masks for kids is all over the place - RTE say it's required, but a clip of Micheal responding to Alan Kelly has him saying "required but not regulated in law"

So advisory then... muppet!

Thank you for that. I will source that and listen to it.

Good point. What annoys me more though (and fully understanding that it's deliberate and a tactic throughout this "crisis") is the confusing and contradictory language and reporting to try and blur the lines between "suggested" and "required" to try and coerce people into compliance.

Who are the hysterical minority??? You are lucky we live in a country that has NPHET. Third world countries wouldnt be agreeing with you there. I can tell you. If the kids in 3rd world countries had the option of going to school, getting vaccinated and having a govt that could spend millions on puplic health, they wouldnt need a psychologist if they were asked to wear a mask. Covid is real, it is a global pandemic. There are millions of people all over the world dead from it. It may not suit you but no one really gives a S... what you think in the scale of things.

I can answer your first question by referring you to the rest of your post - particularly your second sentence! Lucky indeed!

Finally some sense. I don't care what the kids in my class wear. They are there to be educated not worry about how they are dressed. We all have days where we are not organised and don't have the correct clothing.

I know of an outbreak linked to kids but stemmed from a stag party. But it's kids who are being demonised and told they can't do things. While the adults carry on as normal. How is that fair??

Speak to your GP, too many of us are allowing our judgement to be clouded with respect to to vaccine based on what we're reading online. Your GP will provide a balanced narrative on the pros and cons of child vaccination.

They will get bullied to hell and back by the other kids, who will be following their parents lead in how to treat those others in society who don't toe the party line.

Where are you getting your figures from with respect to risk from myocarditis? Or your figures on child fatalities due to COVID? I'm not pressuring you to do anything. Just suggesting that talking to a medical professional about these risk may help in your decision making process.

It looks like we are back to 'The next 2 weeks are crucial'

I guess the issue here is that I don’t recall ever talking about these measures being autocratic, nor do I recall claiming that there have never been laws and prohibitions that had long and significant effects on certain strands or demographics of Irish society. You seem to be responding to what you think I am saying, rather than what I actually said.

I call these the most significant restrictions of liberties in the history of the State because they have reached deeply into the simplest and most fundamental aspects of everyday freedoms across our society entirely — right down to the most simple everyday acts of socialising. Is it hyperbole to say that for long periods of time over the past two years, Irish citizens have been unable to move without lawful excuse beyond distances ranging from 2km, 5km, county lines or beyond our borders? Is it hyperbole to say that at stages of these restrictions, the effect of laws was such as to make it an offence to socialise with certain people in certain numbers or locations? Is it hyperbole to say that the restrictions were so far-reaching that the very nature of human interaction was rendered almost entirely electronic? That families and friends even a short distance apart were for long periods subject to rules, backed up by the presence of Garda checkpoints, that made it unlawful for them to physically interact? I could go on.

This is not a debate about the necessity of the restrictions, simply a restatement of what they involved. One is perfectly entitled to believe that such restrictions are / were necessary and that they constitute a greater good or lesser evil — but that’s a different argument. Either way, I don’t think you get to have your cake, eat it, and act as though these laws and restrictions were something else entirely than what they factually were.