Prolonging The Emergency

at

Yesterday evening.

The Dáil at the Convention Centre.

Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara questions the extension of covid emergency powers and the lack of time allowed to debate their implementation.

The extension until November was passed after 73 TDs voted in favour and 68 against.

Last night: Extended

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23 thoughts on “Prolonging The Emergency

  1. Darce

    ah who cares about the measures. gardai don’t want to use em anyway. keep focussed on the bigger issues at hand.

    1. Triona

      Are you living under a rock? Comfortably where they want you? Over 40k fines for people doing everyday things. Just because you haven’t had the luck of running into a power tripped garda doesn’t mean these measures doesn’t have many of them tripping on power.

  2. bb

    Fair play, Michael McNamara – albeit jumping on the Richard Boyd Barrett bandwagon, but no bother, sure the more, the merrier. And Richard Boyd Barrett has been at this stuff for decades, and isn’t in it to make a name for himself or get the headlines. Am sure he’s more than happy for Broadsheet to spin this in its own inimical way.

    1. Just Sayin

      bb you are a totab gobshyte if you think anyone will be taken in by this. Michael McNamara has consistently questioned government policy and advocated a more scientific approach (via thedail covid committee) .

      RBB and his cronies never do anything apart from protest (bins, water etc…)
      As all protesters are now branded far-right granny killers etc…
      that put him in a difficult position, his options were

      1: genuinely protest but risk being labeled as far-right, anti vax, conspiracy theorist
      2: support the government and/or sit on the fence
      3: attack the government by claiming zero-covid is the way to go (regardless of how loony tunes zero-covid actually is)

      He took the cop-out option 3. probably because SF have taken control of the fence.

      1. K. Cavan

        Bullseye, JS, it has been quite funny though, watching Ireland’s Former Left squirm. Then, faced with their first opportunity to actually change working-class people’s lives for the better, to actually DO SOMETHING, they ran away, shouting “Far Royshe” at those who took their places. God, what a golden shower our political class are & what a puddle of stinking urine they’ve turned this EU colony into.

        1. SOQ

          The Irish left are an absolute disgrace. They have sang from exactly the same hymn sheet as the establishment right through this lockdown malfeasance. It is quite obvious now that they are what is termed ‘a controlled opposition’.

          1. Nigel

            The Irish left are a disgrace but they didn’t decide to take the position that the pandemic is fake, so they have that going for them.

  3. eoin

    Good man Mac. Also noticed how almost all of Irish media (apart from Broadsheet) has ignored the Fauci email revelations. It’s massive news, yet it’s being ignored by the state broadcaster? I wonder why?

    1. ce

      “all of Irish media (apart from Broadsheet) has ignored the Fauci email revelations.” It’s almost like…. [insert whatever the hell you want really here]

    2. Nigel

      Is it? Really? Some stuff that merits sharp criticism, but is there anything there that comes as a revelation or particularly egregious considering the open public antics of the head of the administration at that time?

      1. alickdouglas

        I’ve met Fauci on a few occasions, I don’t like him and I don’t trust him. I’ve not looked hard, but I cannot find anything in those emails that warrants a second thought. Can you point something out? (not being sarcastic, genuine question).

        1. Nigel

          The mixed messaging on masks is kinda the worst of it, to be honest. There seems to be a lot of stuff about controling public perception, but that sort of thing is always going to look bad in a sausage-making kind of way. I think he expresses sympathy for a Chinese official in one, which is the real bombshell for a lot of his critics but doesn’t exactly set the world on fire for anyone else. Here’s the Buzzfeed News story:
          https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nataliebettendorf/fauci-emails-covid-response

        1. Nigel

          He was president of the US and Fauci’s boss during the period when these emails were composed.

  4. Gavin

    Fair play, at least someone is questioning the extension of these powers in the hands of a bunch of muppets, without any oversight

  5. Kdoc

    It’s a strange world we are living in. Here there are protests because the government is flexing its muscles too much to combat Covid, meanwhile in Brazil there are protests because Bolsonaro’s government are not doing enough to fight the disease.

  6. Zaccone

    McNamara’s been doing great work all year. Hes the only politician whos even tried to hold the government to account on its covid response measures. Its just a shame we don’t have an actual opposition party doing the same.

    1. K. Cavan

      So many commentators here fail to understand the role of Opposition, to question everything the government do, to force them to justify every action, every measure. Without it, there is no democracy & if you believe in democracy, you cheer that on, no matter what your party or political allegiance is. Then again, I detect a strong dislike for democracy, ’round these parts, the whiff of Authoritarianism is overpowering, at times.

    2. Cian

      Its a real pity that Sinn Fein got into power last year – if they were in opposition they would have been screaming blue murder.

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