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

By the same logic should they not do something to change their own circumstances so that they have a better work/life balance rather than support policies that caused over a million people to be unemployed for months on end, that caused severe hardship on other peoples children, and for entire industries to stop trading?

Its also laughable to suggest ‘others could realistically change career’, as if it’s something easily done at the drop of a hat.

I didn’t work in any of the main effected industries but I was made redundant in the first lockdown due to a knock on effect from closures and it took me 7 months to find another job, despite being experienced and educated.

And besides, whose going to serve you your coffee or wait your table if the entire hospitality industry embarks on a career change?

We are very quick to use and abuse these workers and industries when it suits us, in particular I think bringing them back to work for just 3 weeks at Christmas 2020 so we could enjoy a ‘meaningful’ celebration was horrible. Those employees worked ridiculous hours for that period of time at the expense of spending time with their own families only to be discarded again on the 23rd of December and prevented from earning a living for half a year afterwards.

There are also the secondary casualties to the restrictions on hospitality - the musicians, the DJ’s, the photographers, and the taxi drivers and so on. The knock on effects go deep.

And the irony is that by using short term thinking to support these policies, they are undoubtedly causing more hardship for their own children in the future - cause it’s our children and grandchildren who will be footing the bill for these reckless and nonsensical lockdowns and restrictions.

Nothing epitomizes the utterly dysfunctional relationship between our supposed Government and NPHET than this latest tranche of nonsense of having to wait and see if NPHET approve removing restrictions and hoping Big T lets us away lightly, if he is in a good mood or if Philip Nolans roulette wheel lands on Red.

F**king spineless, useless articles. Why not provide even a modicum of leadership and say unless NPHET provide substantial reasoning backed by evidence not to, that restrictions on hospitality will be completely removed?

Why bother paying experts if your going not bother listening to them.

Just to note I am all for removing all restrictions ASAP.

Numbers really are pointing the right way in a big way so there is not an awful lot to hide behind. Latest tests have us back where we were before Omicron hit. That alone points towards reversing that 8p.m. thing and the outdoor sport restrictions and a rampant Omicron suggests there will not be a chance of another variant for quite a while.

I would read that as the opposite. In other words that they will lift/ease restrictions on indoor events, etc but you will still need a cert to enter which makes sense.

I really hope this is the start of a politician trying to get ahead of the curve by actively speaking up and fighting against these restrictions. We can moan all we want but it means little if the ruling classes are meekly compliant.

We need opposition, and people with influence actually speaking up. If that is a snake politician doing it for his own ends I don't really care, just as long as somebody does it.

If so he's being slightly dishonest then.

Being able to go about your business without justifying and identifying yourself everywhere is a civil liberties issue, even if many people pretend to have forgotten it or now claim it doesn't matter.

There were debates about the requirements around national ID cards only a few years ago.

In other words, the certs affects vaccinated people too.

I'm not an employee of Ireland Inc. so I don't want to carry a digital keycard everywhere with me to access spaces.

Oh I agree - it was always about coercion not protection.

It was clear even back last October that vaccinated people were a potential vector for virus spread, and not including a negative PCR or antigen test in the certs just reinforces that idea that it has nothing to do with stopping the spread.

It's been the same for months that it reduces the pressure on the health system, countries with lower vax rates have an even higher proportion unvaccinated in hospital, in Ireland, we just don't have the capacity for it to go out of control and have been lucky that we had such a high vax rate.

Rewriting the narrative now for Omicron (where there is far more incidental admissions) is wrong.

There is a massive change in people on here in the last week, people are really sick of this. Even conservative people i work with are the same, why would I bother with an antigen test if nothing is wrong with me is the feeling. I hope the feeling on here is the general feeling in the real world.

With Omicron, they'll probably be unnecessary, Timmy and Richard are now trying to revise everything such that they were unnecessary all the time which wasn't the case with Delta because that's what they have claimed all the way through and can't reverse course anymore.

Nah, they know that playing that card will just lose them the room even more, nobody is actually concerned about the virus any more.

The narrative is likely to be "just a few more weeks, almost there, hold firm, we shouldn't stumble at the last step, here are a few crumbs and there will be better days ahead, we promise". That will allow them to drip feed and stretch it out for a few months.