Restore travel (and sanity) within Ireland

Breezin

One of the remaining impositions of the lockdown is the prohibition on travel outside 5k. The return to normal movement was cited in a poll a week or two ago as one of people's top priorities. While there is a lot of talk about air travel, the prospect of being allowed to travel in our own country seems to have dropped off the radar.

In other threads in this section, people have been pointing out that they are unable to see close relatives. Others, myself, included, have less immediately pressing concerns, and simply are not happy at being confined when the act of driving a car solo or with family, or riding a motorcycle, beyond 5km poses absolutely zero Covid-19 risk.

Whatever about foreign travel, or other measures, I would like to be able to travel within Ireland outside 5k from my home. For the life of me I cannot see why that ban is being maintained, assuming social distancing precautions are observed. This is already permitted in England and Australia, for example.

In that spirit, it's nice to have a pretext to post this song of protest:

LeYouth

I think it will come soon, just have to be patient...a bit longer...

Paddygreen

Breezin wrote: »

One of the remaining impositions of the lockdown is the prohibition on travel outside 5k. The return to normal movement was cited in a poll a week or two ago as one of people's top priorities. While there is a lot of talk about air travel, the prospect of being allowed to travel in our own country seems to have dropped off the radar.

In other threads in this section, people have been pointing out that they are unable to see close relatives. Others, myself, included, have less immediately pressing concerns, and simply are not happy at being confined when the act of driving a car solo or with family, or riding a motorcycle, beyond 5km poses absolutely zero Covid-19 risk.

Whatever about foreign travel, or other measures, I would like to be able to travel within Ireland outside 5k from my home. For the life of me I cannot see why that ban is being maintained, assuming social distancing precautions are maintained. This is already permitted in England and Australia, for example.

In that spirit, it's nice to have a pretext to post this song of protest:

I said at the start of this and I will say it again.. we need secure detention centers to quarantine the non compliant until there is a vaccine. There is no room for dissent when we are at war.

Breezin

Paddygreen wrote: »

I said at the start of this and I will say it again.. we need secure detention centers to quarantine the non compliant until there is a vaccine. There is no room for dissent when we are at war.

Thanks Paddy.

SNNUS

Paddygreen wrote: »

I said at the start of this and I will say it again.. we need secure detention centers to quarantine the non compliant until there is a vaccine. There is no room for dissent when we are at war.

Oh not the Dad's Army crowd again...

manlad

Parents live 45 mins away. I've not seen them since February, July is supposedly when I can go visit them again without restrictions. Doesn't seem fair at times. I'm reminded each day about the additional numbers of people who have lost their lives so its difficult to argue with it.

Hoffmans

It shows how much unnecessary travel people were taking before lockdown that we can survive when distances are restricted,
of course theres the patriot rebels buzzing around with a copy of the constitution in their laps giving no thought to the 1500 already succumbed to the deadly virus

KindOfIrish

manlad wrote: »

Parents live 45 mins away. I've not seen them since February, July is supposedly when I can go visit them again without restrictions. Doesn't seem fair at times. I'm reminded each day about the additional numbers of people who have lost their lives so its difficult to argue with it.

Are you serious?! No government would stop me visiting parents. Whats wrong with you people?

Breezin

Hoffmans wrote: »

It shows how much unnecessary travel people were taking before lockdown that we can survive when distances are restricted

I think you are actually being serious!

Beasty

Breezin wrote: »

I think you are actually being serious!

Business travel may have dropped by 90% or more. Commuting has probably reduced by a similar amount. I reckon in the medium to long term maybe half of that reduction is "sustainable"

That's before thinking about international travel

Hopefully we'll all be guzzling less gas going forward

Jim_Hodge

manlad wrote: »

Parents live 45 mins away. I've not seen them since February, July is supposedly when I can go visit them again without restrictions. Doesn't seem fair at times. I'm reminded each day about the additional numbers of people who have lost their lives so its difficult to argue with it.

Same here but it's our grandchildren we can't get to see. It's heartbreaking but we know it's something we must do and that this will pass. Distance restrictions are integral to keeping a grip on this thing. It's not easy but as we progress we need to ensure that any rise in cases is as contained as possible. Driving a distance doesn't increase individual risk but it does risk passing the virus to a wider area and greater number of people.

ek motor

KindOfIrish wrote: »

Are you serious?! No government would stop me visiting parents. Whats wrong with you people?

He's not selfish. Madness, I know.

banie01

KindOfIrish wrote: »

you people?

What do you mean "you people?"

Plumbthedepths

manlad wrote: »

Parents live 45 mins away. I've not seen them since February, July is supposedly when I can go visit them again without restrictions. Doesn't seem fair at times. I'm reminded each day about the additional numbers of people who have lost their lives so its difficult to argue with it.

My wife's parents live an hour away. She has been struggling as she is very close to them. Last time she saw them was March. Saturday gone I told her we were going. She was concerned about the Garda, I put anti inflammatory medication in a bag. I said your 'Dad was complaining of a sore neck'. He also said he and my MIL are too afraid to leave the house. So we made an essential trip to help a family member.
No one lost their life as we travelled by car didn't stop, sat 6 ft apart in my PIL's garden drinking a coffee after handing over the medication. Stop by a Garda on my way home, asked the purpose of our trip. Told the Garda we were bringing medication to my FIL. No issue.
PTD.

ek motor

banie01 wrote: »

What do you mean "you people?"

The little people of course, those who abide by the rules.

KindOfIrish

ek motor wrote: »

The little people of course, those who abide by the rules.

Tomorrow they will tell you to jump from Cliffs of Moher and i'm afraid many will do it. 5, 20, 100 km travel restriction is idiotic and follow this rule is equally idiotic.

Jim_Hodge

KindOfIrish wrote: »

Tomorrow they will tell you to jump from Cliffs of Moher and i'm afraid many will do it. 5, 20, 100 km travel restriction is idiotic and follow this rule is equally idiotic.

This shows a complete lack of understanding of the principles involved in containing an epidemic. The range people travel and potentially transport the virus impacts on contact tracing and minimising spread.

Paddygreen

I tweeted an Gardai today with my idea.. Operation Granny Trap... place unmarked cars near known grandparents houses (picked at random) and see if anyone comes to visit them, heavy fines and names in the paper if anyone calls round and enters the dwelling. Deterrence combined with social shaming is the only way we can ensure compliance. No reply as of yet.

Plumbthedepths

Paddygreen wrote: »

No reply as of yet.

My son is a Garda serving in a large Midlands town. I showed him your comment. ( I know you're a WUM) But I won't repeat what he said about your nonsense as I would get a ban.

ChikiChiki

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

My wife's parents live an hour away. She has been struggling as she is very close to them. Last time she saw them was March. Saturday gone I told her we were going. She was concerned about the Garda, I put anti inflammatory medication in a bag. I said your 'Dad was complaining of a sore neck'. He also said he and my MIL are too afraid to leave the house. So we made an essential trip to help a family member.
No one lost their life as we travelled by car didn't stop, sat 6 ft apart in my PIL's garden drinking a coffee after handing over the medication. Stop by a Garda on my way home, asked the purpose of our trip. Told the Garda we were bringing medication to my FIL. No issue.
PTD.

If everyone did this there would be a cost in some shape or form. I'm sure you were very obedient but still.

Maybe it's better to keep such musings to yourself as not to encourage. Fwiw, I think you probably did the right thing for your wife.

But you'll still get people seeing others travel and using it as encouragement to visit mates etc when restrictions are still in place.

Paddygreen

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

My son is a Garda serving in a large Midlands town. I showed him your comment. ( I know you're a WUM) But I won't repeat what he said about your nonsense as I would get a ban.

A large midlands town? Athlone probably, as lawless as Baghdad there. He doesn’t sound too enthusiastic about the job. Tell him to watch a few Clint Eastwood classics, might inspire him.

ek motor

Paddygreen wrote: »

I tweeted an Gardai today with my idea.. Operation Granny Trap... place unmarked cars near known grandparents houses (picked at random) and see if anyone comes to visit them, heavy fines and names in the paper if anyone calls round and enters the dwelling. Deterrence combined with social shaming is the only way we can ensure compliance. No reply as of yet.

I think its workable, might help bring in some extra revenue too :pac:

nacho libre

manlad wrote: »

Parents live 45 mins away. I've not seen them since February, July is supposedly when I can go visit them again without restrictions. Doesn't seem fair at times. I'm reminded each day about the additional numbers of people who have lost their lives so its difficult to argue with it.

Are your parents elderly? if so you should go and see them, if you are stopped by the guards just tell them you are visiting elderly parents in need- this was always permitted within the restrictions anyway. If you're worried about infecting them, just chat to them outside from the recommended distance. The risk of infecting another person is low in an outside setting.

Beanybabog

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

My wife's parents live an hour away. She has been struggling as she is very close to them. Last time she saw them was March. Saturday gone I told her we were going. She was concerned about the Garda, I put anti inflammatory medication in a bag. I said your 'Dad was complaining of a sore neck'.

When I read things like this the sheer scale of what we have been facing hits home. Sneaking outside your zone to see your relatives, having an acceptable excuse in case the Gardai question you- If someone told me 6 months ago we’d be here I wouldn’t have believed it, I probably wouldn’t have even thought it possible / legal. The situation has been normalised over time, but it’s actually incredible. I can’t wait until this is (hopefully) a story from our past and my own kids think I’m telling tall tales about not being allowed go 2/5 km from your home or have anyone visit

Yester

KindOfIrish wrote: »

Tomorrow they will tell you to jump from Cliffs of Moher and i'm afraid many will do it. 5, 20, 100 km travel restriction is idiotic and follow this rule is equally idiotic.

I can't until they lift the travel restrictions.

gmisk

manlad wrote: »

Parents live 45 mins away. I've not seen them since February, July is supposedly when I can go visit them again without restrictions. Doesn't seem fair at times. I'm reminded each day about the additional numbers of people who have lost their lives so its difficult to argue with it.

My folks are in the north (I live in Dublin) I haven't seen them since Xmas they were away on hols for about 3 months and I was due to go up when this all kicked off

Jim_Hodge

wakka12 wrote: »

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-a-quarter-of-covid-19-patients-who-died-in-england-had-diabetes-11988326

25% of COVID deaths in the UK were diabetic, just 6% of Brits in the general population are diabetic

And did they travel within Ireland? Way outside their 5km.

wakka12

Jim_Hodge wrote: »

And did they travel within Ireland? Way outside their 5km.

Wrong thread :P

What Username Guidelines

ChikiChiki wrote: »

If everyone did this there would be a cost in some shape or form. I'm sure you were very obedient but still.

Maybe it's better to keep such musings to yourself as not to encourage. Fwiw, I think you probably did the right thing for your wife.

But you'll still get people seeing others travel and using it as encouragement to visit mates etc when restrictions are still in place.

While I agree to an extent, if everyone did what he did it would actually be fine. But unfortunately not everyone will do the same in terms of precautions and therein lies the problem why we need these restrictions to be so black and white.

This is why it’s difficult to exit lockdown and an almost-Swedish approach might have been better. As soon as the pressure valve is released a little, people will keep pushing. Harris said you can’t put these measures on people too long but it’s coming up on 7 weeks, and unless you’re a builder or work in a garden centre, etc, it’s 10, maybe more.

Hopefully we can do it as a nation, but how long does the patience last and what does it look like when it runs out?

kyote00

Did you try phoning them ?

manlad wrote: »

Parents live 45 mins away. I've not seen them since February, July is supposedly when I can go visit them again without restrictions. Doesn't seem fair at times. I'm reminded each day about the additional numbers of people who have lost their lives so its difficult to argue with it.

growleaves

ek motor wrote: »

The little people of course, those who abide by the rules.

Leprechauns abide by the rules?