Tag Archives: coronavirus

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall

This morning.

RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Sarah McInerney.

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall responded to new figures which show that just 7% of people are being contacted after arriving in Ireland to check their location.

Via RTÉ:

 Ms Shortall said the Government is “asleep at the wheel” and has “little or no control” over the status of people travelling into Ireland.

Just over 4,000 follow up calls were made to check up on 60,000 people arriving in to Dublin Airport in the first two weeks in July, according to figures from the Department of Justice and released in response to a parliamentary question from Deputy Shortall.

The figures also show 52% of the 4,121 calls made to passengers were answered.

Deputy Shortall said the Department of Justice is responsible for tracking the movements of people who come into the country, “but they clearly don’t want to do that“.

She said: “The Department of Justice is waiting for the Department of Health to take over, which they haven’t done and this means that there are a significant number of people coming here as tourists and there are little or no checks on their status.”

Anyone?

Govt ‘asleep at the wheel’ over arrivals into Ireland – Shortall (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

This afternoon.

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar urges a school re-opening policy that won’t make us look bad to other countries.

Fine Gael.

Never change.

British Lord Jonathan Sumption has served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

This afternoon.

Via Irish Legal News:

Lord Sumption has admitted that he stopped obeying the coronavirus regulations when they began “reaching levels of absurdity”.

Speaking to legal journalist Joshua Rozenberg QC (hon.), the former Supreme Court justice said he did not accept that there was a “moral obligation to comply with the law”.

In an online discussion hosted by Prospect Magazine, he said: “I certainly think that if you don’t comply with the law you cannot complain if you are fined. But are you committing a moral offence? I think not.”

Mr Rozenberg responded: “You’ve just said to me you stopped complying with the law at some point, perhaps by going out?”

“I decided that I was no longer going to comply with some aspects of the law at a relatively late stage when it seemed to me to be reaching levels of absurdity,” Lord Sumption said.

Later…

The host asked him, however, whether he thought he had “a duty to not only uphold the law but set an example to others by obeying the law”.

While he agreed that this was true in some respects, he remarked that “as a former Supreme Court judge I am simply a citizen and they have a platform but I have no juridical obligations by virtue of what I no longer do”.

Lord Sumption also warned that the global response to the pandemic may threaten democracy.

He noted that advocates of human rights “have been extraordinarily silent” about the lockdown and said that it is when populations cede liberty – as they have during the coronavirus crisis – that despots come to power.

“I would accept that the majority probably favour the lockdown but that is, I’m afraid, how despotisms arise…[More at link below]…

Cancel him.

Mask him.

Snap his braces.

Pull his hair.

Do SOMETHING!

Lord Sumption admits to disobeying coronavirus rules when they reached ‘absurdity’ Irish Legal News)

Pic The Law Society Gazette

From top: Department of the Taoiseach; A schedule of meetings of the Senior Officials Group (SOG); Access to records denied

Who’s running the show?

Who’s really running the show?

Investigative journalist and lecturer Ken Foxe writes

One of the key parts of the state’s COVID19 strategy has been the creation of a Senior Officials Group (SOG) to assist the government.

I hoped to find out a bit more about what they’ve been doing through their agendas and minutes … the response will probably not surprise you.

The creation of the Senior Officials Group was announced as part of the national action plan on Covid-19 back in mid-March. Very little is known about it.

Its establishment and work has not been welcomed by all.

One government minister was quoted in May as saying there is “no scrutiny” of it and that even they could not get copies of the minutes.

From the schedule of records, we know that many meetings took place. But we cannot have any further information on the agenda, what was discussed, who attended, or what was decided.

This was then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil on April 16: “Transparency is really important here. If we want to keep the trust of the people, we need to be transparent …”

It’s difficult to square what has been said in public about transparency and then having a group like this, which operates entirely in secret.

The decision has today been appealed by @RightToKnowIE

Anyone?

Ken Foxe

Right to Know

Yikes.

How Galway compares with Budapest, Hungary and Talinn, Estonia – both countries are on the ‘government’s travel-friendly ‘Green (with envy) List’.

Guaranteed rain and the ‘craic’ doesn’t come cheap, you know.

*hits thigh with spoons*

Earlier: Spoilt For Choice

 

This morning.

Grafton Street, Dublin 2.

McDonald’s prepares to re-open its dining space for the first time in seven 17 weeks. Customers will be served unhappy meals via table service only and are told to expect a lot of perspex.

Well I tried to tell you so (yes, I did).

But I guess you didn’t know.

Etc.

McDonalds reopens 32 restaurants to eat-in customers (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

From left: Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd; Testing centre at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2 in May

This morning.

People are afraid.

Let’s make them more afraid.

Via Independent.ie

More than 1,300 people have refused a Covid-19 test despite being at risk of the deadly disease after being in close contact with an infected person.

The startling figure showing 1,314 have snubbed the offer of a test was revealed by the HSE to the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response.

Dr Lorraine Doherty, HSE national clinical director for health protection, said they are concerned about people not turning up for tests.

She said: “It shows that the public are becoming disengaged with the idea of having a Covid-19 test if they are symptomatic or if they are a contact, because they understand the implications of having a test and that they would need to restrict their movements.”

…Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd said: “The gardaí may need to call to people’s doors if they refuse to come for a Covid-19 test.”

Good times.

Covid tests refused as people fear quarantine restrictions (Independent.ie)

Rollingnews

Taoiseach Micheál Martin arriving for last night’s cabinet meeting at Dublin Castle

This morning/last night.

The Government has agreed that the following countries be included as ‘Normal Precautions on the Department of Foreign Affairs Travel Advice’: Malta, Finland, Norway, Italy, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Slovakia, Greece, Greenland, Gibraltar, Monaco, and San Marino.

Via Merrion Street:

Anyone arriving into Ireland from these countries will not have to restrict their movements. Passengers from any other country outside of those with a Normal Precautions advisory are asked to restrict their movements for 14 days.

The list will be reviewed on a fortnightly basis, based on advice from officials including public health experts.

There is no change to the current policy in respect of travel from Northern Ireland.

The Government will continue with plans to strengthen the existing measures for monitoring passengers who arrive into Ireland, including the introduction of an Electronic Passenger Locator Form, enhanced follow-up procedures, a call centre operated by the DAA, and a proposed testing regime for symptomatic passengers at airports and ports.

Processes to restrict flight or passenger travel in certain circumstances will also be explored.

In conjunction with these preventative measures, there will be a renewed communications campaign across all platforms to ensure maximum public awareness of the latest advice.

The Pandemic is not over and the public health advice remains the same. The safest thing to do is not to travel.’

Statement on Government Travel Advice (Merrion Street)

Government adds 15 countries to ‘green list’ for travel (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

Meanwhile…

Yesterday’s The Guardian

However…

This afternoon.

Via The Irish Examiner:

Ireland’s Covid Tracker smartphone application is sharing information which could lead to location tracking with Google at least every 20 minutes, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

A new research paper released by the school of computer science and statistics at Trinity College Dublin details the information that is shared – which includes IP address, the handset’s IMEI (its unique identifier which can be used to block its usage), serial number, phone number, and email address – and describes the revelation as being “extremely troubling from a privacy viewpoint”.

The HSE had insisted that the app is completely anonymous and does not track location data.

However, the HSE only controls the public health side of the app, with the exposure notification segment being administered by both Google and Apple via their Google/Apple Exposure Notification (GAEN) service.

Meanwhile…

“The HSE has been celebrated in Ireland and beyond for their transparent approach to developing the Covid Tracker app,” said Elizabeth Farries, director of information rights with The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL.)

“However, Google Play Services represent a significant component of the app. Most people, even app developers, are unaware of this level of invasiveness,” she added.

Also.

It has also emerged that the HSE’s side of the app is collating information via the metrics it receives from users which could be used to link all requests sent from the same phone together, akin to a ‘cookie’ footprint left by a computer as it surfs the internet.

Anyone?

Covid-19 tracking app sharing possible location data with Google (Cianan Brennan, Irish Examiner)

Yesterday: Cheap, popular and it works: Ireland’s contact-tracing app success (The Guardian)

Previously: Hapless App

Rollingnews

This afternoon.

A report on the impact of the virus on nursing homes by The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has been published.

Via The Irish Times:

“The State health watchdog was granted an emergency court order to shut down a nursing home over fears residents could not be protected during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has also revealed none of the 44 homes where there had been confirmed cases of Covid-19 fully complied with regulations to stem the spread of the disease.

…In a report on the impact of the pandemic on nursing homes, Hiqa said it began inspecting homes that had “significant outbreaks” and found shortcomings in management, staffing levels as well as infection prevention and control skills.

Hiqa granted order to shut nursing home over Covid-19 risk to residents (Irish Times)

Meanwhile…

The report also outlines the human impact of dealing with the pandemic on staff, residents and their families who contacted HIQA to tell their story.

Residents spoke of the fear of never hugging their family again and of what would happen if a resident of staff member tested positive.

One said he would “not leave the room again until a vaccine was found”.

Others were frustrated and angry that prevention measures meant they were largely confined to their bedrooms and cut out from the friends in the centre.

The only human contact was from staff, many of whom were wearing PPE.

There was also a serious impact on the wellbeing of staff.

One home said “we have some staff that are still out and it is likely they will never return, such is their upset“.

Half of nursing homes with virus outbreaks inspected did not follow hygiene rules – HIQA (RTÉ)

Previously: Left To Die: Nursing Home Timeline

Rollingnews