Author Archives: Bodger

This morning/afternoon.

Darndale Bell Centre, Dublin 17.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly at the launch of the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme, a €13m initiative to ‘support increased health and wellbeing services to 19 communities in Ireland’.

Meanwhile..

…Mr Donnelly said that Government figures show that one in three pubs and restaurants are not correctly checking for Covid passes at the door.

He said that this is “not acceptable” and that this cohort needs to “step up” during the winter.

“The survey results I have and the enforcement data we have both say the same thing, that about two in every three pubs or restaurants are enforcing and that one in three is not. That is not OK, it is not acceptable for that one in three,” he told reporters.

Taoiseach wants crackdown on Covid certs as Donnelly tells pubs and restaurants to ‘step up and do the right thing’ (Independent.ie)

Earlier: Supper ‘n’ Snitch

RollingNews

Fania Stoney

Please indulge us.

Our pals at Healthy Place to Work Ireland have announced Fania Stoney as Chief Executive Officer. Congrats!

Healthy Place To Work Ireland is a ‘mission-based organisation’ focused on improving the health of employees and organisations . They provide globally-recognised Healthy Place to Work® Certifications in Ireland.

Fania has been at Healthy Place to Work Ireland since its inception in 2017 and says:

“People’s perspectives and expectations have shifted in the post Covid workplace. Without doubt there will be a greater emphasis on maintaining a healthy workplace and workforce and I strongly believe our organisation helps businesses achieve this goal”.

Healthy Place To Work Ireland

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on her visit to Ireland in 2011

This morning.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has cancelled her planned visit to Northern Ireland, where she was due to attend a church service tomorrow marking the centenary of Northern Ireland.

The prayer service at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral has been organised by the four main churches in Northern Ireland.

In a statement this morning, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The Queen has reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days.

And a corgi ate my homework.

Fight!

Britain’s Queen cancels trip to Northern Ireland on medical advice (RTÉ)

RollingNews

Journalist Joe O’Shea

This morning.

Further to Joe O’Shea’s takedown of the unvaxxed on Monday’s Claire Byrne Live on RTÉ One

Via Kathy Sheridan in the Irish Times:

On Monday night, journalist Joe O’Shea argued that unvaccinated people have “complicated” life for the vaccinated for long enough and “we have to start compelling them” to take vaccines.

‘When Claire Byrne took issue with the notion of compulsion, O’Shea insisted that he was not talking about “marching people down to health centres” or “forcing” them to take vaccines. “They had a right to decide if they wanted to lock themselves out of society,” he said. “You can compel people or you can let them know that if this is the decision you take then unfortunately we cannot have you in our spaces, we cannot have you with the risk that you pose to our society, to our people, to our loved ones.”

For airing those views O’Shea and Claire Byrne Live were accused online – including by some named posters – of verging on “incitement” to hatred.

A sample of responses: “Ape”; “Hate speech”; “Cult tv”; “Real hatred coming from this man”; “People like Joe are going to be the cause of real violence”; “Don’t worry [about] it. The ‘unvaccinated’ know that they are hated and are prepared”. Cue a YouTube video titled “Get Ready for the Hate” – an image of Josef Mengele (the Nazi who performed medical experiments in Auschwitz); a blurry snap of a letter from an English school saying a child had died in her sleep with the poster’s comment, “How many more do we have to lose before you say no more??” And the old reliable: “Backhanders from pharmaceutical companies.”

And that was just a sample of Irish Twitter about a single topic on a Monday night.

When the show asked 1,000 adults in an Amarach smartphone poll, “Are you in favour of mandatory vaccination against Covid 19?” A total of 46 per cent voted Yes and 42 per cent No. The tight result suggests that the issue warranted an airing.

If a discussion around social and personal responsibility is not appropriate now, then when? And what do “incitement” or “hate” actually mean in such a context?

The real problem is that permeating it all – and against which no society can legislate – is the presumption of bad faith. The insistent, corrosive implication that every topic, policy or proposal with which someone disagrees must be driven by deliberate cruelty, hate, greed, profit motive or theft. The dissenters of course are heroic Joan of Arc figures (anonymously, mostly) standing up to The Man….’ [more at link below]

Kathy Sheridan: Culture of abuse on social media is malign (Irish Times)

Yesterday: Hardcore Cranks

This morning.

The Galway Comedy Festival begins tonight…

…via RTE News:

Kevin’s Healy owns a number of venues in the city including the Róisín Dubh which is one of the best-known venues for live music and comedy acts.

“We will work within the spirit of the guidelines with covid certs and masks but there are so many anomalies surrounding yesterday’s announcement.

“The rules seem to be different around night clubs and live gigs. You can dance and stand in a club but not at a gig.

“You have to be sitting. There’s table service only in pubs and restaurants but not at a live gig it would seem. There’s a lot of detail that hasn’t been explained. It will take a few days and by that stage we’ll be at the weekend.”

Meanwhile…

Gary Monroe runs a gastro pub and late-night venue for techno music events and live bands in the city centre.

He says the lack of clarity from the Government has created a lot of stress.

“It was the waiting around that really caused the greatest headaches and mental stress. We needed a decision last Friday and now we’re still at sea about what we can and cannot do.

“It’s such a grey area around whether you’re allowed to dance, stand up or go the bar. We’re in no man’s land.”

Galway Comedy Festival kicks off amid measure confusion (RTÉ)

Last night.

Good times.

Meanwhile…

…via RTÉ News:

The President of the Restaurants Association of Ireland said it is “the eleventh hour” and there are no full guidelines yet.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mark McGowan – who owns Scholars Townhouse Hotel and Peggy Moores pub in Drogheda – said this is a “critical time of year” as they head into the Christmas period.

He said they are still unsure about things like multiple table numbers, and are hoping guidelines will be given out sooner rather than later.

“There’s a lot of decisions that have to be made,” he said. “We have to plan rosters, we have to plan the logistics of our table plans in the restaurant, and we may have to hire more staff as well.

Discussions on reopening guidelines ahead of Friday (RTÉ)