Author Archives: Bodger

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney

This morning.

Further to Department of Health plans to expand the Mandatory Hotel Quarantine scheme to include 43 additional countries, including the United States, France and Germany….

“There are a lot of concerns about our capacity to (increase the number of countries) in the short term. We need to think through the implications of that.

“It is one thing having a couple of hundred people in two or three hotels being managed by a contractor and the Defence Forces and working with the Garda Síochána and the Department of Health .

“It’s quite another thing having thousands of people in hotels which would have the implication of expanding this to lots of countries particularly EU countries where there are a lot of Irish people.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney in an interview with Highland Radio this morning.

Hotel quarantine should not apply to countries where many Irish live, Coveney says (Irish Times)

RollingNews

This morning/afternoon.

Covid-19 Testing Centre, Finglas, Dublin.

One of three new walk-in Covid-19 testing centres for asymptomatic people (exhibiting no symptoms) that have opened today in various locations around Ireland where there is a ‘high rate of coronavirus infections’.

RollingNews

Meanwhile…

Professor Pete Lunn of the ERSI, at a media briefing yesterday  at the Department of Health

Last night.

At a Department of Health covid briefing.

Professor Pete Lunn, from the ESRI behavioural research unit, said a “small minority” of people are showing more risky behaviour:

“What has happened here is there has been clear slippage in people following the restrictions and primarily it is not that they are rejecting them, it is not that they are saying they don’t believe in them anymore, it is that there is pushing of the boundaries.

“The primary pushing of the boundaries is social visits to other people’s houses and that we would see as being the biggest behaviour change that is risky.”

Meanwhile…

Dr Ronan Glynn [ Deputy Chief Medical Officer] said if people are mixing in the coming days, they should avoid doing this inside.

“Of course, we are aware that some households are going to do that and are doing that already but what we would say to people is: if you have made the decision to meet up with another household – while that is not our advice at the moment – if you’re going to do it, do it outdoors.”

“Meet up in parks, meet up outdoors over the coming days.”

Numbers presenting with Covid symptoms up 50% as ESRI note ‘clear slippage’ in public behaviour (Irish Examiner)

RollingNews

This morning.

Dail Eireann at the Convention Centre.

Labour Party Leader Alan Kelly and the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, clash over vaccine roll-out figures.

Minister Donnelly had said “slightly less than a million doses” of Covid vaccines will arrive in the month of April.

However, Sinn Féin’s Health Spokesperson, David Cullinane said Mr Donnelly told a meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting last night that the figure he received for April was 860,000.

Donnelly criticised after Covid vaccine arrivals are revised downwards (RTÉ)

Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny

On The Late Late Show.

Jennifer O’Brien writes:

Ryan will chat all things Line of Duty with an Irishman who’s leading the charge at AC-12, Adrian Dunbar. Adrian will discuss how it feels to become watercooler famous more than 40 years after leaving the island to become an actor…

Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny joins Ryan to speak about life after politics and his new series that starts next week on RTÉ, sees him rediscovering Ireland’s railway routes….

Broadcaster Sarah McInerney, recently announced alongside Fran McNulty to join Miriam O’Callaghan as new presenters of Prime Time, will speak with Ryan about her new role…

Paul Howard, journalist and author of 23 books featuring Ross O’ Carroll Kelly, will be on the show to discuss everything from class privilege in Ireland, to how ROCK is surviving the pandemic…

To mark World Autism Awareness Day, we will meet with a group of parents and children who are living with autism and the everyday challenges they face.

Hotelier John Fitzpatrick will chat about New York opening up and the vaccine rollout and whether we’ll see the Irish in the Big Apple anytime soon.

The music line-up includes Wild Youth exclusively performing their new single ‘Can’t Say No’ and, on the day of its release, John Spillane performs a song from his critically acclaimed album ‘100 Snow White Horses’.

The Late Late Show, RTÉ One tomorrow at 9.35pm.

RollingNews

Here’s How.

The current affairs podcast hosted by William Campbell (right) meets a radical champion of the rights of Irish farmers.

William writes:

Are Irish farmers just a bunch of whiners who think the world owes them a living? Or do they deserve more support? Farmer and beef protester Daniel Long (above left) is running for president of Macra na Feirme but can he justify his blockading of central Dublin in 2020, demanding that the government force up the price for beef?

Listen here

Here’s How

This afternoon.

Earlier…

This morning.

Blanchardstown, Dublin.

Meanwhile…

In fairness.

Just ‘dropped’.

The third episode of the  second series of the brilliant, if bleak, animated webseries Poxy Bleedin Shop.

Creator Thomas Quain writes:

In this episode, as Liam lies depressed in the phone box, Bono appears to lend him a helping hand but is not around long enough to make much of a difference. Later that same night Liam goes through a difficult time as a seagull torments him.

Poxy Bleedin’ Shop

Last night.

Tuam campaigner Breeda Murphy, adoptee and activist Eunan Duffy and lawyer Frank Brehany, whose father was a Tuam adoptee, discuss GDPR, birth mothers and the ‘right of agency’.

This is the 14th in a series of shows with Breeda and Eunan looking at all aspects of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation report. They can be viewed here.