Tag Archives: coronavirus

This afternoon.

Start your engines.

WIP? Work in progress.

TII? Traffic, Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Mary Lou McDonald addressing the Dáil this afternoon

This afternoon.

Leinster House, Dublin 2.

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald asked Taoiseach Leo Varadkar if the State pandemic employment payments would be extended in June, following ‘ominous’ comments made yesterday by Minister For Finance Paschal Donohoe yesterday.

Ms McDonald said cutting or tapering off these would be “wrong” and said even the idea being floated suggests that Fine Gael is “out of touch” with the lives of workers and families and those bearing the burnt of this “economic shock”.

She also added that “in the last economic crisis”, FG and FF “chose to protect the banks and the wealthy”, “that you chose to punish ordinary workers and families instead” and “they lived with the minimum wage being slashed” and “numerous cuts to child benefit”.

She referred the moves to “slash and burn policies aimed to service a debt that did not belong to the people“.

During his response,, Mr Varadkar said the payments would need to continue until people can return to their jobs and, for the vast majority of people, returning to work won’t happen by June.

“So yes, it will need to be extended beyond mid-June,” he said.

He then went on to say:

“I am sorry though that Deputy McDonald chose to become some party political in her contributions because what you said was so two-faced and so fundamentally dishonest.

My party, Fine Gael, never cut the minimum wage. Working with Labour and then Independents, we increased it by 25%, one of the highest in the world.

What is the minimum wage in Northern Ireland where Sinn Fein is in power. In this jurisdiction, a Government led by my party, introduced a pandemic unemployment payment of €350 a week. So that people who lost their jobs had some financial security.

What happened in Northern Ireland where Sinn Fein is in office? A hundred pounds a week. Nothing for the self-employed until June. And Sinn Féin ministers on their Facebook site promote the fact that they hand out food parcels to the poor.

Reminiscent to me of Donald Trump handing out toilet roll after the hurricane hit the islands in the Caribbean.”

Later

Varadkar: “…you can’t hide the fact that she’s also leader of an All-Ireland party, a party that’s in power in Northern Ireland where the minimum wage is lower than here, where you don’t give people 350 pounds a week. You hand out food parcels and boast about it on Facebook. I’d be ashamed to do something like that.

“And don’t blame it on the Tories, and don’t blame it on London. If it wasn’t for their money, it would even be worse.”

Later

Ms McDonald said she was glad to hear the Taoiseach confirm that the payments would be extended beyond June. She then asked if he’d indicate how long they would be extended and if payment amount would remain the same.

She also said that grants of 10,000 or 25,000 pounds are being made available to businesses across all sectors in the North and added:

“What has been dedicated to those efforts in the six counties is far greater than the entire 250million which is pretty miserly that’s been set out here…”

She also said she’s proud of the community work that Sinn Féin activists do across Ireland.

During his response, Mr Varadkar said no decision has yet been made on the rate of pay or the timeline of the extended payments and indicated it may be something for the next Government to decide.

He added:

“I think it’s a great thing by the way that people do provide food banks and hand out food parcels. And this Government actually funds food banks and we’ve done that for a very long time. What we don’t do is post on Facebook pictures of our ministers visiting them and handing out food to the poor…”

Fight!

More to follow.

Earlier: Origin Story

UPDATE:

This afternoon.

More as we get it.

Meanwhile…

This afternoon.

Meanwhile…

Minister for Education Joe McHugh has concluded discussions with parents, teachers, school managers and students over plans to hold the Leaving Cert at the end of July.

A “plan B” option of awarding grades to students, in the event that the exams being cancelled was one of the items on the agenda.

The practicalities of running the exams in the context of social distancing and public health advice were also discussed….

Leaving Cert: No decision on exams following meeting (irish Times)

This morning.

On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

The Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe (above) was interviewed by Bryan Dobson. It followed his department saying that it expected Ireland to run a deficit of at least 7.5 per cent or €23 billion this year.

They had this exchange:

Bryan Dobson: “The supports that are available to people who are losing their jobs or are on short time payment, the pandemic payment, unemployment payment. And the wage subsidy – more than a million people now receiving some sort of payment from the State and it expires in the middle of next month. Will it be extended?”

Paschal Donohoe: “Well, we’re going to be dealing with this now across the next few weeks, Bryan. And then we’ll be in a position to outline a pathway for both of those payments. They are going to continue in a form but the level of those payments and how they will be made available to the economy is something that the Government will make a decision on soon.

“The reason why we need to be careful about these payments is two-fold. The first one is they’re working, they’re working keeping people in a job or if you have lost a job, they’re working in helping our citizens cope with huge change in living standards that nobody was expecting.

“The second reason we have to take care with their future is because of their cost. They are costing many hundreds of millions of euros per week and what I and the Government will aim to do is change those payments in a way that is affordable but also makes sense for our citizens.”

Hmm.

Listen back in full here

Rollingnews

RTÉ website this afternoon

Um.

Via RTÉ

Speaking to RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke programme, Danielle Kennedy said hairdressers are being offered up to €200 for a haircut from clients, compared to the regular price of €40-€50 before Covid-19.

She said the black market has “erupted” since the Government’s announcement that salons will not reopen until the 20 July.

“It erupted even further since the announcement that we aren’t going to open until the 20th July. People just aren’t prepared to wait that long for a haircut.

“Roughly €150 to €200 for a haircut compared to €40 to €50, so three and four times the normal price to get it done.

“It’s putting salons under an awful lot of pressure because there is a fear that the owners are going to crumble and will just try and look after their clients.”

Black market in haircuts has ‘erupted’ under lockdown (RTÉ)

 

From top: St Michael’s Hospital, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin; at a COVID-19 HSE briefing press briefing last nighty were, above from left: Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry, Chair Cover 19 Expert advisory Group Dr Cillian De Gascon, Chief Medical Officer Dept of Health Dr Tony Holohan and Deputy chief Medical Officer Dept of Health Dr Ronan Glynn

Last night.

Via Alive Beo on Twitter:

I never felt the need to say this until now but as the lockdown goes on and it’s detrimental effects increase, I want to let you know that I’m an Irish doctor and I think the lockdown is a disproportionate measure and a breach of our fundamental human right to liberty

I am in a unique position in that I get a glimpse behind the scenes. A lot of scaremongering went on among colleagues, we were perpetually waiting for a surge that didn’t come- was never going to come- based on faulty models.

I think the second wave is a scare tactic. There’s no evidence that a second wave will happen. From the start this has been about scaring people to a big enough extent that they will comply with the recommendations set before them. Fear is the basis of compliance.

I could honestly write a book on the hysteria that went on in the lead up to the so-called surge expected. Intuitively I knew something was off from the start. Empty hospitals, work load quieter than ever. We were over staffed. All that hysteria got us into lockdown.

That’s why all the hospital staff have time to make TikTok videos. I’ve had more free time during my working day during this pandemic than I’ve ever had since I started working as a doctor.

There are going to be people who are trying to delegitimise your concerns about the indirect effects of prolonged lockdown.

They will call you crazy and ridicule you. My message is that you must not cower away from raising concerns. Keep fighting this!

I uphold the sanctity of human life from the moment of natural conception to the moment of natural death. I also uphold everyone’s human right to liberty.

I debated whether I should tell you this because I never want to use my career to boast or as a PR stunt. It’s my job. I don’t need people to clap for me. I just need to be true to myself and truthfully, it is my opinion that the public have been deceived to an extent.

I have earned my credentials and I gain nothing by lying to you. But I believe we need to #endthelockdownnow

Anyone?

Update:

Earlier: County By County

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

Professor Neil Ferguson and Antonia Staats

Last night.

The scientist whose advice prompted UK prime Minister Boris Johnson to lock down Britain resigned from his Government advisory position as it was revealed he broke social distancing rules to meet his married lover.

This morning, UK Security Minister James Brokenshire has called Prof Neil Ferguson’s resignation a “matter of regret” but an “appropriate course” of action.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said:

“I’m obviously saddened to hear this development and the actions Professor Ferguson has taken but, ultimately, I think it is the right course of action.

I think Professor Ferguson has taken an appropriate course given the issues of ensuring there is clarity of message on upholding the rules and requirements on social distancing and just why that matters so much in terms of protecting our NHS and saving lives.

It is a matter of regret but that guidance is unequivocal, it is there to protect all of us.”

Minister says Neil Ferguson right to step down (The Guardian)

Exclusive: Government scientist Neil Ferguson resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover (Daily Telegraph)

Getty/AP