This morning.
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Road closures on Kildare Street outside Leinster House this morning, as a group called Irish Truckers Haulage Association Against Fuel Prices lead a convoy of vehicles into Dublin City Centre today..
Update:
This morning.
UK PM Boris Johnson is physically well and has a full grasp on the prime ministership, Downing Street has said
A spokesman has felt he should tell
You the PM has not been unwell
And he’s certainly not
Entirely lost the plot
So please don’t ring the alarm bell
Getty
More to follow.
Maria Arbuckle, whose son was removed from her for adoption when she was 18
Insulting and divisive #redress scheme. Survivors want their humans rights to a birth cert, identity, medical Info & yes they should be financially compensated for lifelong trauma of forced separation. Demand the govt does this. Make religious orders pay too. #motherandbabyhomes pic.twitter.com/azMkSrF9jp
— Ruth Coppinger (@RuthCoppingerSP) November 23, 2021
This afternoon.
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Adoptees and survivors of Mother and Baby homes address media and TDs outside the Dail in to express their “feelings of disappointment and disgust” in response to Government’s redress scheme.
Last week: Terms Of Redress
Australia’s Northern Territory’s Howard Springs quarantine centre
This afternoon.
Further to yesterday’s announcement from Australia’s Northern Territory Chief Minister that the army will move covid positive cases and their contacts to isolation centres…
….health authorities in South Australia are organising camps for Aboriginal people ‘unable to quarantine at home’.
Via The Age:
South Australia Health opened a tender calling for expressions of interest from organisations that can provide “services for the effective quarantine of vulnerable persons who have been identified as close contacts” and “culturally appropriate and safe quarantine conditions”.
“It has been identified that facilities would be required for the quarantining of persons who would otherwise be unable to home quarantine due to their living circumstances,” the procurement document states.
“It has been identified that various sites will be required for use as facilities, due to the vulnerability of persons in multiple communities, including Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Renmark and Mount Gambier.”
The tender makes specific reference to 14-day quarantine periods – mandatory for unvaccinated close contacts – as opposed to the seven-day quarantine requirement for vaccinated contacts.
Yesterday: Get On The Truck
Earlier: Austrian Resistance
SA Health plans regional quarantine camps for Indigenous close contacts (The Age)
SA Health planning COVID quarantine camps in case of outbreak (IN Daily)
APP
This afternoon.
Government Buildings. Dublin 2.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe attempts to explain the government’s position on antigen testing.
Earlier…
This afternoon.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is expected to secure Government approval to subsidise antigen testing…
…..Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children Jennifer Whitmore says:
“Discussions currently are focused on trying to design a subsidy scheme, which is entirely misguided. The building is on fire. We need to act now to put it out – not stand around and debate the cost of fire extinguishers.
“We are in an emergency situation and the most important thing we need to do is identify cases and suppress transmission. Free antigen testing would help us to do that. Given the huge surge in cases, it would be destructive to our efforts to manage this crisis if cost were to become a barrier to antigen testing.
“The government, and Nphet, have been dismissive of the public’s ability to correctly use antigen tests, but people are not stupid. They have followed all of the public health advice to the best of their ability for nearly two years.
“When this surge has abated, we can then discuss a subsidy. But the situation is too grave now for any further indecision or delay.”
Meanwhile…
Via Fintan O’Toole in the Irish Times:
…There was an extraordinary moment last June at a hearing on antigen tests held by the Oireachtas transport committee. One of the experts, Prof Mary Keogan, consultant immunologist and national clinical lead for pathology, held up two antigen tests, one negative and one positive. She announced that she had created the negative result by putting butter on the test. She produced the positive result with tonic water.
Worse than uselessThe implication was clear – self-administered tests are worse than useless because people can cheat. This was very much in line with the description by Nphet’s chief modeller Prof Philip Nolan of a test being sold in a supermarket chain as “snake oil”.
What was not produced, however, was any evidence that lots of Irish people are in fact cheating on antigen tests. Perhaps to a certain kind of scientific mind it seems obvious that if people can do something they must be doing it.
That suspicion seems unshakeable. Even after the Government decided on Monday last week to move ahead with a wider use of antigen testing, its chief medical adviser Dr Tony Holohan continued to lobby against the policy….
Messaging on the pandemic has become just a mess (Fintan O’Toole, Irish Times)
This afternoon.
Dublin 2.
Sweary students at a #FucktheFees protest across from the Dáil organised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). Ireland has the highest college fees in the EU.
No need for the language.
Update:
That’s better.
This afternoon.
Leinster House. Dublin 2.
Fine Gael Senator Regina O’Doherty discusses The Horticultural Peat (Temporary Measures) Bill 2021 due to be introduced before the Seanad this afternoon
The bill hopes to end ‘Irish horticultural growers’ reliance on expensive imported peat as a growing medium for their produce by allowing them to extract Irish peat as part of a Just Transition’.
Or will it?
Peat Bill will allow extraction of Irish peat – Doherty (Fine Gael)
Meanwhile…
Converse or Vans?
We may never know.
This morning/afternoon.
Leinster House, Dublin 2
Limerick TD Richard O’Donoghue drove a truck to Leinster House today as part of a protest against rising fuel prices.
Name that vehicle, anyone?
