Um.

Steve White writes:

How do you maintain two metres social distancing when boarding, alighting and on board on a bus? as Dublin Bus says it wants you to do. I don’t believe its possible and Dublin Bus statement is corporate nonsense.

Anyone?

Introduction of Social Distancing Measures On-board (Dublin Bus)

Meanwhile…

Dublin Bus seating Yesterday.

Via Hille

So much more than a belt of three stars, the constellation of Orion is rich in nebulae, as seen in this painstaking composite of extremely long exposures captured on clear nights in 2013 and 2014. To wit:

After 212 hours of camera time and an additional year of processing, the featured 1400-exposure collage spanning over 40 times the angular diameter of the Moon emerged. Of the many interesting details that have become visible, one that particularly draws the eye is Barnard’s Loop, the bright red circular filament arcing down from the middle. The Rosette Nebula is not the giant red nebula near the top of the image — that is a larger but lesser known nebula known as Lambda Orionis. The Rosette Nebula is visible, though: it is the red and white nebula on the upper left. The bright orange star just above the frame center is Betelgeuse, while the bright blue star on the lower right is Rigel. Other famous nebulas visible include the Witch Head Nebula, the Flame Nebula, the Fox Fur Nebula, and, if you know just where to look, the comparatively small Horsehead Nebula. About those famous three stars that cross the belt of Orion the Hunter — in this busy frame they can be hard to locate, but a discerning eye will find them just below and to the right of the image centre.

(Image: Stanislav Volskiy, Annotation: Judy Schmidt)

apod

This afternoon.

At Dublin Castle.

Returning Officer Martin Grove (above) directs the counting of ballots to fill 43 of 60 senators’ seats from vocational panels in the Seanad Éireann election after its postal voting closed at 11am this morning.

Counting of votes is expected to continue until Friday, April 3.

Journalists are not allowed to attend the count, due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Results will instead be posted on the Oireachtas.ie website here or the House of Oireachtas’ Twitter account here.

Rollingnews

Earlier: Counting On The Seanad

Members of the Irish Defence Forces loading PPE equipment after it arrived in Dublin Airport yesterday from China

This morning.

On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, China’s Ambassador to Ireland He Xiangdong spoke to Rachael English about the shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE) on their way to Ireland from China, a deal in which Mr He and his staff have been involved.

The interview followed the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey claiming they have encountered problems with Chinese-made coronavirus testing kits and protective equipment.

It also followed the first batch of PPE arriving in Ireland from China, as part of a €208million deal, yesterday and being distributed around the country from last night.

Before the ambassador spoke to Ms English, the HSE’s Chief Operations Officer Anne O’Connor told Ms English that further shipments will arrive in Ireland via a total of ten flights by Wednesday this week.

She added:

“I think we have 300 flights coming with PPE over the coming weeks so that is very significant.”

At the end of her interview with the ambassador, Ms English and Mr He had this exchange…

Rachael English: “People may have seen reports over the past days from the Netherlands, the Government there saying that some face masks it imported from China, that there was a problem with them. Can you reassure people that that won’t be the case here?”

He Xiangdong: “I think that the HSE procurement department are working closely with the suppliers there in China. I think that we will try our best, do our best, together, to make sure that all the PPE will abide by the standards.”

English: “Well, listen, thank you very much for joining us…”

Listen back in full here

Faults in China-supplied coronavirus equipment reported in Europe (The Irish Times)

UPDATE:

This afternoon.

It has been announced that the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 will take place from July 23 to August 8, 2021.

The Paralympic Games Tokyo all take place from August 24 to September 5, 2021.

The announcement followed a conference call between the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan.

It follows the announcement last week that the games would be postponed.

IOC, IPC, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan Government announce new dates for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Olympic.org)

From top: Bedrooms of direct provision centres in Cork City; Roscrea, Co Tipperary; Swords; Miltown Malbay, Co Clare; Cahersiveen, Co Kerry; Newbridge, Co Kildare; tweet from the Kinsale Road Accommodation Centre in Cork City and a tweet from Graham Clifford, of The Sanctuary Runners

Various refugee and asylum seeker support groups have been calling on the Department of Justice to move people deemed to be the “most vulnerable” out of direct provision centres because of Covid-19.

It comes as asylum seekers, some of whom are healthcare workers, say the Government’s direction for people to maintain “social distancing”, “self-isolation” and “cocooning” is impossible at centres where, in most cases, several people share single rooms.

It also follows councils and the Government spending money on information campaigns about social distancing in public places and on facilities such as Dublin Bus.

Last week it was reported that residents in a direct-provision centre in the west of Ireland were informed a person in their building had tested positive for Covid-19.

Further to this, the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) write:

“Disgraceful but not surprising that the Department of Justice and Equality refused to provide self-contained units for asylum seekers.

Dublin Region Homeless Executive said it would source self-contained units for people in emergency accommodation so that they can observe social distancing. We hope other service providers for homeless people do the same.

The handling of Covid-19 in Direct Provision shows us once more than the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers should be taken away from the Department of Justice and Equality. Direct Provision operators will always put profits above everything.

Solidarity with people in overcrowded accommodation at this time.”

Meanwhile, MASI has posted the following video from the Grand Hotel Direct Provision Centre in Wicklow where a “self-isolation” room is being set up…

Thud.

A petition calling on the Department of Justice to move people deemed to be “at risk” of Covid-19 out of direct provision can be signed here.

Previously: No Room To Isolate

Broadsheet.ie