Fáilte Isteach

at

Last night.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that anyone entering the State from overseas – with some exceptions – are now required to quarantine for the first time.

However, the requirement may take several weeks to become operational.

Via RTÉ News:

Mr Varadkar said some of this quarantining will be done in hotels, some in people’s homes.

Legislation will be needed to underpin the move to hold Irish and EU citizens without a negative Covid test in hotels.

It has also been confirmed that those returning from overseas to the State via Northern Ireland will be subject to the same legal requirements.

Fines for those outside the 5km travel limit who are intending to travel abroad will be increased from the current €100….

Anyone?

Arrivals from overseas face mandatory quarantine (RTÉ)

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25 thoughts on “Fáilte Isteach

  1. JEH

    If the passenger locator forms are still being filled out on paper there is no way this isn’t just a smoke and mirrors announcement.

    I had to fly a few months ago for essential travel and had to fill out all of my information on websites before entering the EU and UK. But when I got to Ireland it was a slip of paper that was handed to immigration officers at Dublin Airport. I don’t see how these forms could be reasonably recorded and stored in a way that is meaningful and accessible.

      1. JEH

        They could, but if they were actually doing that they’d realize it was so much more painful than just whipping together a digital system, which is how you know no one has ever looked at those forms a second time.

  2. f_lawless

    Good piece by Dr. Malcom Kendrick who draws on historical examples to explain the process by which medical ideas which lack scientific evidence can sometimes take hold among the mainstream, become conventional wisdom, and lead to disastrous consequences.

    https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2021/01/27/does-lockdown-work-or-not/

    “Step one = we have a serious disease that is killing lots of people.

    Step two = it creates great fear, and the medical profession has nothing much in place to deal with it.

    Step three = a charismatic leader emerges to decree that he (almost always a ‘he’ up to now) knows how to treat it/control it, etc. This is ‘the idea’.

    Step four = The ‘idea’ is enthusiastically taken up around the world and becomes mainstream thinking.

    Step five = the ‘idea’ becomes standard practice.

    Step six – the ‘idea’ is taught to medics and becomes accepted truth, a fact.

    Step six = anyone who goes against the ‘idea’ is ruthlessly attacked.

    There is always, of course, the possibility that the ‘idea’ is the best thing to do. This happens from time to time. However, there seems to be little or no correlation between the enthusiasm, and speed, with which ideas are taken up, and the likelihood they are correct.

    The problem, as I came to recognise, lies between step two and step four. By which I mean that a charismatic figure convinces everyone that they have the answer, before there is any evidence to support it. The person may not be charismatic, simply someone who has the ability to grab attention and push the ‘idea’ forward.

    ..Another thing that leads to disaster, which is perhaps of even greater importance, is that the ‘idea’ must sound like the most obvious common sense. It should trigger a response along the lines of ‘Yes, of course, that sounds perfectly reasonable’. Once that’s been achieved, the ‘idea’ drops neatly into people’s minds, settles down, and grows roots, creating not a ripple of cognitive dissonance.

    ..More is better… this is another of the deadly repeating themes of ‘the idea.’ The idea can never be wrong, it is just that people are not doing with sufficient vigour. If women are still dying from metastatic breast cancer, even after radical mastectomies (and they were), the answer could not possibly be that the procedure doesn’t work. The answer is that we are not being radical enough: ‘Hack away more, and then more.’”

    1. theofficepest

      what is your point

      plenty of evidence to say this is effective

      the countries who have implemented strict quarantine are in a much better place than those who have not

      is that what your rather long winded post is trying to argue against

      1. f_lawless

        That’s the point: -the danger of putting faith in the idea that these non-pharmaceutical interventions such as blanket lockdowns and quarantines, etc have the power to “keep the virus under control” when it’s not backed up by sound empirical evidence. When the interventions don’t have the desired effect, the response of the faithful is that we need to go harder.

        Rather than looking at all of the evidence comprehensively, there’s a tendency to cherry-pick certain countries to fit a preconceived conclusion and ignore the experience of those countries which run counter to the conclusion. It’s easy to point to NZ and say “look! proof strict quarantines are the solution for us all” but then that would be to ignore the experiences of countries such as Canada, Peru, Argentina, Israel – to name a few – which imposed strict quarantines or even total bans on anyone crossing the border sometimes for multiple extended periods in the last 10 months. They aren’t currently in a much better place.

    2. Cian

      Lockdown works to reduce the number of people with an infectious disease.
      There is scientific evidence.

      Do you doubt this?

      Granted, lockdown also causes many other problems. The questions are:
      – do the benefits of lockdown (less Covid) outweigh the risks of lockdown (stress, closed schools, etc)
      – are there other options that have the same benefits but fewer risks? (or slightly lower benefits but much fewer risks)

  3. Broadbag

    ”It has also been confirmed that those returning from overseas to the State via Northern Ireland will be subject to the same legal requirements.”

    I missed this important part, anyone know if the North are on board and will be policing it at points of entry or is it just the wishy-washy, you’re subject to these requirements but we’re (stupidly) going to trust you and not check?

    1. Charger Salmons

      NI has been asking the Irish government to share information on Passenger Location Forms since last summer.
      Zero.Nada.Zilch.

          1. Crocodile Dundalk

            There are many points, not just one. You’re entitled to your own obviously. Free country etc.

          2. GiggidyGoo

            If they call to your door and the idea is that you’re isolating, then there’s the get-out. ‘Sorry, I’m not coming out of isolation to see a keystone Kop who is going to be in contact with all and sundry’ Can you be fined for wanting to protect people from the possibility of catching Covid?

            Keystone Kops

        1. Micko

          Ah I think there’s plenty of ways around it.

          €100 on a WiFi video camera doorbell thing would work a treat. ;)

          Or just don’t answer the door. “Sorry Guard, the doorbell is broken / I was in bed with the wife / in the toilet sick with the “covid runs” / playing an immersive VR game. Take your pick.

          Point is, this will only scare people who are already scared of going on holiday in the first place or those who can’t be bothered of the hassle.

          Do you think any one of those people coming home from the sun over the last few weeks give a crap about the guards or what the neighbours say.

          A box ticking exercise – just to placate the people calling for it on social media.

  4. ida

    “Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that anyone entering the State from overseas – with some exceptions – are now required to quarantine for the first time.”

    This is not law yet, Leotheliar strikes again

  5. ida

    Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that anyone entering the State from overseas – with some exceptions – are now required to quarantine for the first time.

    IS now required to quarantine.

    you are wecome

    1. Cian

      Not true.
      if you have a real *need* for a passport or a driving licence you can get them.

      Existing driving licences have had their expiry date extended.

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