Iceland’s Minister of Health Svandís Svavarsdóttir

Icelanders no longer need to wear masks or keep a ‘safe distance’ from other people as all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted on Saturday.

From July 1, fully vaccinated visitors with vaccination certificates will no longer be required to undergo testing at the country’s borders.

Iceland is the first country in Europe to lift all of its Covid restrictions.

Minister of Health Svandís Svavarsdóttir said.

“We are restoring the society we are used to living in and which we have longed for.”

COVID-19 in Iceland: Restrictions officially over (Ice News)

Pic: Eggert Jóhannesson

David Burnside, Ulster Unionist Party (​UUP) politician and former MLA, in today’s Daily Telegraph

This afternoon.

Meanwhile, Vice President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič is currently briefing the Executive Office Committee of the Stormont parliament. The meeting comes as the EU is due to agree to a UK request to delay a ban on chilled meat products from Great Britain being sold in Northern Ireland.

Live: Maroš Šefčovič appears at Stormont Committee (BBC)

Meanwhile…

Fight!

Prices for three-bedroom semi-detached homes nationwide have risen more than 4pc over the past three months

This morning.

Via Independent:

Selling prices for three-bedroom semi-detached homes have risen more than 4pc over the past three months nationwide, with areas such as Drogheda and Limerick recording double-digit increases in the same period, according to new data released today by the Irish Independent REA Average House Price Index.

The survey also shows house prices in Dublin are surging by €1,500 a week.

The price of the average semi-detached home rose by an average €10,000 countrywide over the past three months to €253,685 – leading to an annual increase overall of 8pc.

The biggest rises in Q2 came in commuter counties and the country’s large towns as buyers continued to move out farther from the capital in preparation for long-term hybrid-working situations…

‘Red hot’ rises: Return to Celtic Tiger era as house prices surge by up to €1,500 a week (Independent.ie)

RollingNews

Saturday.

London, England.

We Will Be Free tweetz:

A couple of standout photos from the London Freedom protest. Have faith – there are way more of us than you think!

Meanwhile…

Brian C writes;

Think RTÉ is bad. Well, they are but the BBC are up there with them. They managed to devote zero coverage to one of the biggest marches to ever take place in London…

Pics: @saveourrightsuk

Steve McQueen in The Great Escape (1963)

Yesterday/This morning

Via Irish Examiner:

More than 70 people from red-listed countries have absconded from mandatory hotel quarantine since the system was implemented, it has been revealed.

Of the 75 people who left mandatory quarantine , just 24 returned to their accommodation “voluntarily” after gardaí intervened.

The Sunday Times reports more than a dozen people have left their hotel without permission in the last week alone.

Leader of the Social Democrats Catherine Murphy said it defeats “the whole purpose” of mandatory hotel quarantine if people can just walk out of their own accord.

More than 70 abscond from Ireland’s mandatory hotel facilities (Irish Examiner)

Friday: Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

THis morning.

Samuel McConkey, oftThe National Public Health Emergency Team, said they will meet later today to consider what advice to give to Government on the scheduled easing of restrictions from 5 July, including the recommencement of indoor hospitality.

Earlier….

RollingNews

Saturday.

Kildate Street and Merrion Street, Dublin 2.

Protestors campaigning against the Catholic Church owning the new National Maternity Hospital outside Leinster House and government buildings after It emerged that the religious order that runs SVHG, the Sisters of Charity, would retain ownership of the hospital.

Meanwhile, this morning…

…Via Irish Times letters:

We, the consultants of the National Maternity Hospital, are concerned by the potential for misinformation and misunderstanding to delay a vital project to create a world-class maternity hospital for the women and babies of Ireland.

The misinformation that services at the new maternity hospital will be curtailed by any religious ethos is particularly troubling given its inaccuracy.

We want to reassure women and their families that all obstetric, neonatal and gynaecological care within Irish law is currently being provided at Holles Street, and will be provided in the new hospital. This will include terminations, tubal ligation, transgender and assisted reproduction services.

We as clinicians could not countenance any restriction on our practice based on religion.

A cast-iron guarantee in this regard is included in the proposed operating licence to be granted by the Department of Health for the new hospital, and we would not allow the project to proceed without this in place.

Any further delay in approving this project damages the interests of the mothers and babies who are grossly ill-served by the existing cramped NMH campus which is not fit for purpose, with buildings that are almost 90 years old.

It would be a tragedy if the current impasse further delays a colocation project that was first raised back in 1998.

We acknowledge the difficult journey and huge work to date by all stakeholders and we urge that time and space be given to continue their work to find a resolution to the current impasse.

Irish Times Letters

RollingNews

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