“I Would Ask People Hold Firm Until That First Week In June”

at

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Social democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy

This afternoon.

The Dáil, Leinster House, Dublin 2

“I think we have to continue to base our decisions on evidence but the plan, as was agreed by Government and published, is a living document.

I said from the very start, and I’ll say it again, that as things develop, elements of that plan could be accelerated, could be brought forward. But I really would ask the public and ask the House to hold firm for now.

We’re only in phase one and one of the reasons why it’s a three-week phase is so that we can have proper data. We know that, we won’t really now what effect the easing of the restrictions had for about two weeks.

So if we see that the numbers are still going very much in the right direction in the first week of June, that can give us an assurance that we could accelerate some of the things in the plan.

But before doing that, I think we’d be acting without evidence and that would be premature. So I would just ask people to hold firm until that first week in June.

And if the numbers are still going in the right direction, then we can have some confidence about bringing forward some of the things from the later phases to earlier on.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar under questioning from Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy.

Clear?

More as we get it.

Earlier: You Won’t Lose Your Shirt

 

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16 thoughts on ““I Would Ask People Hold Firm Until That First Week In June”

  1. Ger

    Do as I say not as I do.
    Leo, he who believes that covid rules are for everyone else.the man is an embarrassment

  2. Clampers Outside

    This was all said before. Do people really need this repeated? What was the question that prompted that answer?

  3. Frank

    this whole malarkey was about ‘flattening the curve’. The curve is and has been flattened for several weeks but still we have to maintain the charade. yer man here like the other ‘experts’ dont give a monkeys because they all get paid to sun their chubby noo noos in the park. the workers are goosed.
    it’s all a gigantic pile of stinking poo poo

    1. TypeONegative

      Surely you must accept that there’s a delay between catching the virus and showing symptoms, and a delay between getting tested, being flagged positive, and a particular day’s infection data being published. The business of tracking the curve is much slower you seem to think it is. Its not a matter of, “this week is looking grand lads lets open the pubs and shops”.

      1. Johnnythree

        Sio we all stay locked down until every last vestige of risk is gone? Jesus. Maybe not.

      2. Frank

        ‘the business of tracking the curve’… that’s the only business that’s been done and it’s a queer business

  4. Gokkers

    “I Would Ask People Hold Firm Until That First Week In June”… weather permitting of course.

  5. goldenbrown

    well whatever about all this the wheels will be coming off Ireland very soon

    EU just released details of their Coronavirus Recovery Fund @ €750 Billion package (which no doubt a whole new level of Austerity will be required to pay for)

    Distribution of the money will apparently be weighted by how badly economies have fared during the pandemic. Ireland under these terms looks set to receive……..a measly €1.9 Billion

    we’re screwed

  6. f_lawless

    “But before doing that, I think we’d be acting without evidence and that would be premature.”

    If only he’d been astute enough and had had the backbone to abide by that principle back when it mattered the most.

    I’m reminded of that article by top epidemiologist John Ioannidis published on St Paddy’s day. He warned that governments were imposing draconian shutdown measures which had no clear exit strategy amid a “once-in-a-century evidence fiasco” which could result in major consequences to the economy, society, and mental health.

    https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/

    1. Cian

      He might be correct. But his conclusions were based on equally sparse data – he extrapolated 7 deaths on Diamond Princess to the US to calculate possible deaths; but another 7 died after he wrote this!

      This part is quite poignant, considering they passed the 100,000 mark this week.
      Some worry that the 68 deaths from Covid-19 in the U.S. as of March 16 will increase exponentially to 680, 6,800, 68,000, 680,000 … along with similar catastrophic patterns around the globe. Is that a realistic scenario, or bad science fiction? How can we tell at what point such a curve might stop?

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