Clonmel Thread

darragh o meara wrote: »

Seems as though he’s not the only one starting to get pissed off with all these restrictions.

Copied from Mattie McGraths FB page today, he has a few valid points :

Where is the logic? It is time to deal with the inconsistencies in the governments approach because there appears to be absolutely no logic to their decisions.

With the easing of restrictions, we can now bring our dog to the vet or have our eyes tested but we can’t have important cancer screening appointments or important early intervention appointments.

We can shop for our homewares in Dunnes, Tesco, Argos and many other large businesses but we can’t shop for the same goods in the independent retailer next door.

We can travel on public transport and in taxi’s which are classed as essential business, but we can’t carry out driving tests because of social distancing concerns, yet there is no difference between social distancing in a taxi or a car for a driving test. In fact it is probably safer to sit a driving test than to take a taxi or public transport because of contact tracing.

We can test our commercial vehicles in our CVRT test centres but can’t carry out our NCT tests despite the fact that there is little or no difference in these tests other than that one vehicle is classed as commercial and the other private.

We can travel hundreds of kilometres to work on busy construction sites with hundreds of other staff but we can’t travel to visit our own loved ones outside of 5km.

The small business working through a shop is entitled to a restart grant but the small business working from a van isn’t.

Two employees doing the same job, one under 66 the other over 66, one gets a Covid Pandemic Payment and the other doesn’t.

Two bus companies doing school runs to the same schools. One contracted by bus Eireann gets 50% supports, the other operating privately gets nothing. They have the same costs and they will both be required when our schools eventually re-open but it is likely that many will no longer exist.

5000 people can attend a protest march in Dublin but our funerals are restricted to having 10 people present leaving many relatives and friends unable to say goodbye to their loved ones.

Most bizarrely of all. We are paying €300m to private hospitals to provide extra bed capacity many of which are underutilised while public hospitals such as St. Brigid’s and many more throughout the country I’m sure lie empty.

I could go on and share so many other scenarios, but I’m sure you get the picture. There is no joined up thinking and there is very little logic behind many of these decisions so it’s no wonder people are growing more and more frustrated and complacent.

I have raised concerns and asked questions about these inconsistencies with the relevant Ministers and Departments and will continue to do so but I believe its time to get real. Where are we going and is it time to open up and stop the detrimental damage being caused to our economy and the mental health of our citizens.