At the weekend.

Traveling maskless, mechanic Dara Flaherty is taken to a garda station and arrested for public order offences after refusing to wear a face covering on a bus in Renmore, Galway.

Mr Flaherty, who describes himself as a Nationalist Irish Republican, has urged others to buy a Day Saver ticket and make their own videos.

Earlier: That’s The Way

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149 thoughts on “Seeking Cover

    1. dav

      you must be new here. strap yourself in, you’re in for a wild ride down the “masks stop oxygen” rabbit hole..

      1. GiggidyGoo

        I wonder why sports people aren’t wearing them, especially rugby players. If they have no effect on breathing, oxygen levels etc. Shouldn’t it be mandatory (especially for rugby players)?

          1. GiggidyGoo

            I thought that the clever ones here would have an idea – you know, the ones who discount everything but offer nothing.

          2. Clampers Outside

            The ‘fashion masks’ sold in Supervalu for up to €7 are also sold in Guineys for €3.50.

            How’s that for discounting :0)

        1. Dr.Fart

          they all get tested before games so they dont have to. i remember from my rugby days, extra bits aren’t allowed because they can hurt people. It used to be rings and chains etc., but id imagine the masks would be seen as possibly dangerous. also, if you’re at the bottom of a ruck a mask isn’t going to protect much.

    2. Ian

      What a dumb comment? You must have led a very sheltered life. Its in everyone’s interest that we have a police force we can respect and who respects us. This garda started harassing and abusing a member of the public and then used this fake law of pubic order act to charge him. The gardai can abuse people and then charge them on this public order law which means nothing just that they tried to reason with a garda they automatically get convicted for.

      Most gardai today are abusive thugs and they are paid by us to abuse use, if your bank clerk abused you he wouldn’t have his job for long. Time Irish people woke up to these thugs.

    1. GiggidyGoo

      Cowardly comment Rob. You are conspicuous by your absence on most threads that he is prepared to discuss subjects on, yet out you come to attack him personally. Clap clap Rob.

      1. Rob_G

        Why on earth would I want to get involved in a load of circular arguments on the minutiae of epidemiology with a group of people* who have zero grounding in in the subject other than having read the odd article on FB?

        *i am referring here to both the pro- and antis-Covid measures people here

  1. Jim

    “… using all over Ireland to intern irish people…”

    Why do people have to be such odd balls? Society is just trying to function, people are uncertain, gardai included. They don’t need these know-it-alls making their lives harder.

    “Nationalist Irish Republican Patriot” – Yawn. Go back to school Dara.

    1. ACI Question

      Far too many people are desperate to ‘stand out from the herd’ and this is just the latest, easiest way to grab your five minutes of internet ‘fame’. We’re a spoiled people, idiots like this throwing around words like internment or drawing direct comparisons to Nazi Germany really don’t know just how good we have it.

      I’m not just an office worker…a student…a stay at home parent…a failed politician….I’m one of the special ones…one of those who knows WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON! No, you’re just a twat with a twitter account mate, give it a rest and stop making a show of yourself.

      That said, the enforcement of this particular law (rule ? guideline ?) is all over the shop at the moment and some clarity is required.

  2. broadbag

    I stopped at ”they’re using it to intern Irish people”, all sympathy with his case vanished at this point. It is the nature of the wishy-washy regulations that allow this messiness, he just has to self-declare himself exempt and that’s that, bus driver probably shouldn’t have involved the Gardai, but once he started acting the bell-end he deserves to be taken off the bus, quite an aggressive Garda but probably sick of these loons wasting their time.

  3. Col

    He may have had a point, but he was being deliberately antagonistic there.
    “What’s your business here” and “I actually do have a medical cert but I’m not giving it to you”. Is there a need for that?

    1. TypeONegative

      I’ve seen enough traffic stop videos to know that US cops call timewasting indignant types like that Sovereign Citizens

      1. Micko

        Ah yeah. Sure you can get around nearly any copper with a smile and a “howaya guard” followed by an aul yarn.

        Sure we all did it for most of lockdown.

        “Shopping Guard. I’m going Shopping.”

        60% of the time, it works every time…

  4. Neil Murray

    The twit is just looking for publicity. Mind you his victory in the Gobpoo of the Year awards has taken care off that.

      1. Brother Barnabas

        hands up who knows means dont put your fupping hand up if you dont know the fupping answer does that make sense to you or would you like it again actually I’ve a better idea why dont you come up here and sit in the front row so I can get to know you better and all

      1. fluffybiscuits

        I’ll be sipping cheap Lidl beer in a property I got cheap as so many will have died off…want to join me?

  5. Junkface

    Jesus Christ! This man is pathetic, the ego on him. His mammy must have told him that he’s a very special boy all of his life.

      1. Junkface

        Nice trolling Pat. Ha ha! Is this your full time job? Go back to school Pat, its never too late to learn.

        1. Pat Mustard

          “nice trolling..”

          ROFL, from the idiot that proclaims everyone he disagrees with to be unemployed..

          “never to late to learn..”

          You might drink some of that kool aid yourself considering how utterly uninformed you always are..

  6. SOQ

    For a guy trying to make a point about mandatory mask wearing, he handled it very badly. Loosing his temper and shouting over a guard is not the way make it.

      1. Brother Barnabas

        but wasnt he right that he doesnt have to wear a mask if he has a good reason not to? and wasnt he right that he doesnt have to prove or explain that reason?

        understandable that he’d get frustrated – I dont think he “lost his temper” – when a guard is acting contrary to this

        1. Cian

          “but wasnt he right that he doesnt have to wear a mask if he has a good reason not to? ”
          yes
          “and wasnt he right that he doesnt have to prove or explain that reason?”
          no.

          1. Brother Barnabas

            well, actually, he did explain – said he has a medical cert

            is he required to show the cert – presumably with personal information – to a guard?

          2. Cian

            This legislation (SI 244/2020) is aimed at the bus driver/conductor, but it says:

            “(2) Before exercising a power under paragraph (1) in respect of a passenger, a relevant person shall give the passenger an opportunity to provide reasonable excuse and may request the passenger to provide such information as the relevant person considers necessary to determine whether or not the passenger has reasonable excuse.”

            The question is whether him saying “I have a medical cert” is sufficient.

          3. Brother Barnabas

            so the guard requested the information which he’s entitled to do, and the passenger provided the information – “medical reason”, which surely must qualify as a reasonable excuse. it does seem the guard was in the wrong here.

          4. Cian

            It depends.

            If he didn’t provide information to satisfy the bus driver then the bus driver can legally kick him off the bus.

            The Garda is there to remove him from the bus – at the (legal) request of the driver.

            (ninja edit – do not take this as advice. I am not a lawyer)

          5. GiggidyGoo

            So, it’s not in the legislation then. The passenger doesn’t have to “prove” it to the driver. None of the drivers business and personal medical information is not his to gain.
            The only thing here might be the refusal to obey an instruction of a Guard – but which of them (passenger, driver, guard) has caused a public order incident?

          6. Cian

            It is in the legislation:

            “[the bus driver ] may request the passenger to provide such information as the [bus driver] considers necessary to determine whether or not the passenger has reasonable excuse.”

            The bus driver decides how much information he needs.

            He doesn’t need to prove he has a reason, but he does need to explain.

          7. GiggidyGoo

            So your contention

            “and wasnt he right that he doesnt have to prove or explain that reason?”
            no.

            Was incorrect then Cian?

            The driver is not entitled to personal medical information, so doesn’t decide what information he should receive if that includes personal medical information.

          8. Cian

            “and wasnt he right that he doesnt have to prove or explain that reason?”
            no.

            I stand over this post. He does have to explain the reason (to the satisfaction of the bus driver).

        2. rominick

          Yes, he was. The people posting here seem to think their freedom is just something the government permits them.
          Simple question; the government make masks mandatory for shopping and public transport to stop the spread of the “virus”, but when has the Irish government ever done anything for the benefit of it’s citizens?

          1. Cian

            apart from better sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health … what have the Irish government ever done for us?

          2. Janet, dreams of big guns

            Are you joking about the medicine and water system for a start ? Huge parts of Ireland you cannot drink the tap water, Kerry springs to mind, Half of Kildare on boil notice for large stretches of time and don’t get me started on medical care, particularly shoddy is gynological, do you know how many years of pleading it takes for someone who has endometriosis to get an exploratory laporoscopy alone, smear tests every three years !!!! and then you can’t trust the results, and you better be able to afford private…

          3. Janet, dreams of big guns

            Wine ? Import tax has you paying thirteen euros or a three euro bottle of gutrot,
            Education, they seem to leave that up to the church, including sex education…great idea

          4. SOQ

            Roads?

            You clearly have never been to the back end of Cavan, the only place I have ever seen cows grazing on the middle bit of the ‘road’.

          5. Janet, dreams of big guns

            Ireland is a beautiful country , full of innovative, caring, witty , hard working people, it’s a pity the government hasn’t saw fit to play the long game and invest in said population so that it could really blossom,
            Ireland is not the only country afflicted with this self serving, short sighted and uncivic leaders but it happens to be the one I live in and these are issues I have or someone close to me has been negatively affected.
            If it helps I’ll put a similar counter balance of positivity before every negative comment to make you feel better.

          6. Janet, dreams of big guns

            I real life I’m very easy going and very positive person, I like to see the best in people and situations but I genuinely feel infrastructure, health ( especially female, it’s no fun to have a wonky vagina in this country ) and education need some serious attention, you’d have to be in serious denial to say any different or to never have experienced anything better.

          7. Rob_G

            Well, Cian was responding to a fairly silly post with a (mis)quote from Monty Python, and you still went on a both-barrels rant taking in the church, excise duty…

            Sorry to hear about those close to you affected by the price of red wine

          8. Janet, dreams of big guns

            hajaj yes the wine is a biggy, Cian made a funny !
            tbh that quote passed me by, I don’t know monty off by heart :)

        3. Micko

          I don’t think the guards really care BB.

          They know it’s unenforceable really.

          I was in my local spar a couple of weeks back. Very few people wearing masks.

          In walks a Guard. You could feel the tension on everyone without a mask – about 90% of us.

          Guard wanders around for a bit. Then calls the manager over.

          Manager walks over to the Guard. Guard says “is the ATM not working?” and proceeds to chat to the manager about the weather or similar stuff.

          You could feel the collective sigh of relief.

          They don’t care, same as the lockdown traffic restrictions. Just smile and tell them what they want to hear.

  7. Scundered

    Wearing a mask has nothing to do with being proud of your country, I’d wager a guess that most people who are proud of their Irish roots also comply with what the health experts advise, so people like him are an embarrassment to the majority of Irish people.

    If he is truly on the side of Irish people then he would stop being so bloody awkward, he’s not being asked to chop off a leg, just wear a mask, on a wider scale how did we end up with a section of the population so intent on just being awkward about simple requests? What drives it exactly, depression, narcissism, desperation, rejection, who knows?

    1. bejasus

      health experts. LOL. the ones that have left Italians, yanks etc come into the country without a care in the world. you consider those people experts?

      1. Scundered

        Well what makes you think that health experts enforce the policies, that’s down to central government under advice from other departments too, to choose the best options without completely crashing the economy, a balance has to be struck. Sounds like you don’t really know what the health experts role is.

      1. bejasus

        look how rattled the guy has ye. even Gemma O Doherty getting a mention and Irish flags are bad now somehow..
        PMSL

          1. bejasus

            we have some seriously terrible times ahead and barely out of the last recession.
            I’d rather have G’OD and this guy than no one questioning what’s going on in this country.
            dismissing people for being nationalists or having Irish flags on the twitter account is just childish and arrogant.

          2. Junkface

            Gemma O’ Doherty is raving! Questioning what is going on in the country?
            And yes the groups around her with flags seem like right wing racists. Nationalism in every country can get ugly and racist like this.

  8. SOQ

    The whole thing is silly- you could wear a single layer of your granny’s net curtain and still be compliant.

    Although she might have something to say about that.

      1. Brother Barnabas

        how was he being a dick?

        his medical cert presumably contains very personal information. its reasonable enough that he doesnt want to discuss that on a bus, likely with neighbours, friends etc sitting around him

        1. SOQ

          No BB he was quite happy to discuss at least one of his medical conditions on the video so at best, he was being confrontational.

        2. Cian

          Did you actually watch the video?
          1. He started to verbally abuse the Garda as soon as he got on the bus.
          2. He kept asking the Garda questions and then interrupting when he was getting answers.
          3. He videoed the whole thing.
          4. He published the video online.

          1. Brother Barnabas

            I watched some of it

            I’m guessing that he published the video online AFTER it all happened

        1. Rob_G

          *you’re

          Perhaps I can explain the difference between the possessive pronoun and the contraction for you by drawing it out in crayon…

    1. goldenbrown

      jasus…why did I click on that

      he’s like some sort of a cross between Larry David and Gerry Ryan (rip)

  9. Rob_G

    A nationalist, and a republican?

    I wonder if he uses both belt and braces to keep his trousers from falling down.

  10. Liam Deliverance

    This whole topic melts my head. I think this man explained himself fairly clearly and was calm. I am not sure on the finer points on the laws regarding certs etc.

    The man and the guard in front of him were having a productive back and forth and if that had continued they may have reached an understanding. The guard ran out of patience fairly quickly though and started shouting at him so it went downhill from there and the other guard was trying to intimidate the man, not helpful and also why things got out of control.

    Is it true that the legislation says you do not have to provide a cert, if so they legislation is at fault and whatever attorney general in the making of the legislation while being paid by the state is at fault. If no cert is required then he should have been left on the bus and free to complete his journey. The gardai should be chasing for clear and concise legislation at all times as they are the ones to enforce it.

    I wear a mask all the time and think every one should if they can.

    Also I don’t understand why the bus driver is not wearing a mask (according to the man)and why that garda came on to a bus with no mask, and why gardai in a station are not wearing masks and protecting each other and members of public that they have arrested.

    1. fluffybiscuits

      Gardai are exempt in the course of their duties

      The gardai have to have a level of patience but it reaches its zenith quickly hence they need to become authoritarian (which is the nature of all cops)

      1. Liam Deliverance

        Why are the gardai exempt? (Genuine Question)

        That guards patience lasted all of 80 secs roughly, I’m sure it can be very frustrating to deal with the public some of the time but that is a large part of the job, are they not trained to establish communication and tease out the crux of the issue.

        They came on to enforce Covid legislation and then switched to public order act legislation, did the man commit a crime under Covid legislation? Does he need to prove he is exempt?

        1. Charlie

          I have to disagree. I thought the guard was very composed and it was the antagonist mouthpiece who wouldn’t allow the guard get a work in edgewise. He was on a mission.

        2. SOQ

          Given that Guards are exempt from muzzles and that they encounter so many members of public inside the 2 m rule, one would expect that they would have a much higher rate of infection then?

          Otherwise- it is all just horse manure.

        3. Cian

          @Liam,

          Yer man gets on the bus without a mask.
          Bus driver stops him and tells him to wear a mask. He refuses (and says he has a medical condition). Bus driver isn’t satisfied with this and asks him to get off the bus. He refuses to leave.

          The Garda was called to *remove the person from the bus*.

          At this stage it isn’t the Garda’s job to enforce the Covid legislation – he is there to *remove the guy from the bus* (under whatever bye-laws the buses operate under).

          (*I’m guessing that some of these things happened… based on the video and legislation).

          1. Liam Deliverance

            This is one of these ones that could go on and on because we don’t have the full story, we do not know what was said between man and driver.

            So bus driver is exempt from mask presumably because he/she is in their cab with protective screens.

            Gardai are exempt for some reason only they know.

            The SI says in relation to proof of mask wearing exemption:

            2) Before exercising a power under paragraph (1) in respect of a passenger, a relevant person shall give the passenger an opportunity to provide reasonable excuse and may request the passenger to provide such information as the relevant person considers necessary to determine whether or not the passenger has reasonable excuse.

            As I said, we do not know of the man-driver interaction.

            I would like to think that exemption letter is universal for anyone who qualifies – i.e. it says this person is exempt from mask wearing for medical reasons,signed THE HSE. – did they implent such a system for exemptions?

            A person then does not have to give away what their medical condition is and protects their privacy and stops any bias they may receive from another person on learning of that medical condition.

            What is in point “2” above is too vague and not very well crafted.

            Should there also be legislation that informs a Gardai on how they may determine if someone is exempt or not.

            Yes this man should have just showed his cert and got on with it but we pay relatively large amount of taxpayers money to people to write legislation, could they not have foreseen the issues here?

      1. Daisy Chainsaw

        He’s anti uncontrolled migration so he doesn’t want any Irish leaving without permission either.

      1. Chucky R. Law

        An interesting mix of policies. It seems he’s for uncontrolled migration, islamification, traffic and cronyism.

        1. V AKA Frilly Keane

          Same person ran in General


          I believe that mental health, suicide, homelessness and drug addiction are all one issue.

          https://www.thejournal.ie/election-2020/candidate/1101/daragh-o-flaherty/

          Mind you – that one issue could be 5G ⊙﹏⊙

          So when the Latter_Day_Patriots_Anti-Corruption_the_ICA_is_HMs_Secret_Services_Catering_Core people claim the elections are rigged, and the boxes have false bottoms/ are stuffed in the vans / swapped out / go missing. ….

          You can hardly blame them (◠‿◕)

  11. george

    Its a medical issue then why isn’t he wearing a visor? A lot of people are clearly exploiting medical issues or just faking them because they don’t want to wear a mask.

    1. delacaravanio

      Probably because his cert is from a “doctor” who’s only qualification is a Ph.D in theology.

  12. Pee Pee

    This guy is an absolute sap. Covid or no covid, we should be wearing face masks when in proximity to strangers. Keep your germs to yourself, you pox.

        1. Lilly

          I think you’ll find their longevity owes more to a diet of tofu, seaweed and rice than it does to masks.

          1. Lilly

            Seaweed might be tasty enough with rice and sake, but I’d draw the line at tofu. Still if I were bouncing around at 90, sharp as a tack, I might be willing to forego lasagne and chips.

  13. hansel

    There have been some recent studies into people’s motivations against “Covid-19 measures” and it seems to be partially personality-correlated.
    Not all people who question the usefulness of the measures would be covered by this, obviously, rather the people who make decisions to “not comply with measures”. AKA the chap in the video. I’m not a psychologist or expert whatsoever, just found it interesting that there’s a group of people adverse to wearing masks “on principle”.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7296320/
    “people scoring low on agreeableness and high on aspects of the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy Factor 1, and narcissistic rivalry) were less likely to comply with the restrictions.”

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886920304219
    Participants characterized by the Dark Triad traits engaged less in prevention and more in hoarding, whereas those characterized by collective narcissism engaged in more hoarding only. Coronavirus-related health beliefs mediated patterns of prevention (fully) and hoarding (partially) in the latent Dark Triad (Dark Core) and collective narcissism.

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550620936439
    normal-range traits (esp agreeableness and conscientiousness) predicted endorsement of social distancing and hygiene, as well as the appeal of health messages in general. Dark traits (esp psychopathy, meanness, and disinhibition) predicted low endorsement of health behaviors and the intent to knowingly expose others to risk

    1. SOQ

      Absolute pyschobabble.

      We had the entire country under house arrest while the airports remained wide open- a ban on pubs while the good and the great gathered in Galway- people not able to get medical treatments because they were not available- unemployment- suicides and soon to be evictions and mortgage defaults.

      And for what? A virus with the same fatality rate as the bloody flu. If you have an interest in psychiatry or psychology then good because your knowledge will be needed when the proverbial hits the fan.

      https://swprs.org/face-masks-evidence/

          1. Cian

            Deflection.

            You said “We had the entire country under house arrest “.

            Do you understand what “house arrest” is, and can you tell me at what stage we were under house arrest?

  14. hansel

    What about my rights though?
    And how can a meal protect people?
    OPEN THE PUBS!

    You can literally see the literal tension on people’s faces when you can’t see their faces

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