Justification for the latest restrictions

I'm happy that the government is pro active in tackling the pandemic here and thus far Ireland has proven to be one of the better performing countries in tackling the pandemic thanks largely to our efficient and dedicated civil service and healthcare workers.

However the latest restrictions to begin on Tuesday appear to be put together without any evidence. In my opinion, new restrictions should be fair, practical and most importantly effective in tackling the virus.

We're going into this period of new restrictions with stable/dropping case numbers, dropping hospital cases and the most affected age group is the under 12s (who probably aren't catching the virus in nightclubs). There should be at least some anecdotal evidence from contact tracing that there's a large number of cases arising from club gowers/ trips to the theatre etc. But that hasn't been presented by government. Is there some rationale behind the restrictions or is it simply a knee jerk reaction, kicking hospitality again.

If we were to bring out measures that will actually tackle the virus where its currently being spread then the answer is obviously to close schools for an extended Christmas break and roll out the vaccine to the 5-11 age group.

We could also tighten a lot of screws on the anti vaxers:

- Make using someone else's vaccine cert a criminal offence with a heafty fine

- bar them from any remaining indoor venues, gyms, cinemas, theatres etc

- bar them from public hospitals and let them seek treatment privately.

More than half of the ICU cases are anti vaxx despite being only 8% of the population. Which doesn't make sense because if they think that the vaccine was going to harm them, then why would they expect to get better while being treated by the same doctors nurses and government that they believe is trying to harm them in the first place. They should follow their own logic and discharge themselves. Or better yet they should just be turfed out anyway and that would half ICU cases instantly.

The country needs to move on to a long term strategy. Rolling booster programs when waves happen. We need to improve our health care system and dramatically increase our ICU capacity, slash waiting lists and start putting real effort into a holistic view of healthcare with much greater emphasis on prevention, healthier lifestyles, supplements, regular check ups and more efficient practices.