Relaxation of Restrictions, Part X *Read OP For Mod Warnings*

_Kaiser_

Boggles wrote: »

I literally don't know anyone that would not jump at the chance of going back to the office tomorrow.

The craic fell out of that one around May last year.

FintanMcluskey wrote: »

I literally don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want to go back

Stuck working and living at home is a borderline hermit lifestyle

Some people enjoy the social aspect of work

I think that's true if you're single and young - for me it definitely was. Good craic in work, sessions every few days etc

When you get older and settled though work becomes more about a means to an end for most people and the social aspect falls away as people have their own families and interests/responsibilities after work.

It's this latter group who have saved a fortune on commuting and time lost in traffic, not spending money on takeaway coffees and overpriced sandwiches for lunch, no childcare costs, and who work in roles that they can do from anywhere if they have a phone and a laptop who'll be reluctant to return to the office I think.

_Kaiser_

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought NPHET's and the governments dastardly plan was to keep us in lockdown forever?

As I and many others predicted, they've been forced into it by worsening finances and a significant falloff in public support generally, as well as imminent reopening in NI and the EU vaccine passport

Simple as that.

facehugger99

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I think a lot of the resistance generally is borne of the point that relaxed restrictions and the imminent financial issues will mean the ending of PUP and other supports, and those who have been sitting at home comfortably pontificating will now have to go back to the office which won't suit them at all.

There's no doubt lockdown has suited a lot of people both financially and lifestyle-wise.

Being able to virtue-signal on social media about saving grannies probably adds to the appeal.

The fact that this seemingly comfortable lifestyle is being underpinned by tens of billions of euros of borrowings, doesn't seem to have entered their little heads.

ArthurDayne

Graham wrote: »

Tosh

The strategy for most countries globally has included minimising infection, it's a pretty sensible strategy during a pandemic.

OK, so why then -- if our strategy was about minimising infections --- did we not pursue a strategy closer to Zero Covid?

You, and I suspect Charlie as well, are failng to acknowledge that there is a difference between "minimising infection" and "minimising infection to a level which can be handled". The severity of the lockdown in Ireland was justified on the latter, not the former.

If the Irish strategy was ever about merely minimising infection, there would have been even stricter measures in place and absolutely no reopenings of even timid form. We would have remained more or less at Level 5 for a year -- because unless we had completely eliminated Covid then any reopening would have been a total contradiction of a policy of just "minimising infection" as cases inevitably would have risen. But no, the strategy was aimed at minimising infection to the extent that the healthcare system could cope, not minimising it outright.

Boggles

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I think that's true if you're single and young - for me it definitely was. Good craic in work, sessions every few days etc

When you get older and settled though work becomes more about a means to an end for most people and the social aspect falls away as people have their own families and interests/responsibilities after work.

It's this latter group who have saved a fortune on commuting and time lost in traffic, not spending money on takeaway coffees and overpriced sandwiches for lunch, no childcare costs, and who work in roles that they can do from anywhere if they have a phone and a laptop who'll be reluctant to return to the office I think.

Can't say that rings true with my personal experience.

People just want their lives and especially their homes back.

As for child care costs, as soon as child care reopened the children were returned at the speed of sound.

This was actually one of the most challenging aspects of trying to work and take of children.

It was unfair and unhealthy for both.

The narrative that it was one big money saving jolly is usually peddled by people who didn't have to do it.

pjohnson

Boggles wrote: »

Or we have actually secured vaccines and a vaccination plan.

Much like we were told what would happen.

Q2.

I was wondering how long it would take this thread to find a negative way to spin everything.

Yesterday was upsetting for this place. Tony was guaranteed to keep everything shut until 2022 remember.

paddyisreal

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I thought NPHET's and the governments dastardly plan was to keep us in lockdown forever?

Nphet and the governments conservative reopening plan went out the window when the north opened up. It's not rocket science

_Kaiser_

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

As I and many others predicted, they've been forced into it by worsening finances and a significant falloff in public support generally, as well as imminent reopening in NI and the EU vaccine passport

Simple as that.

As I and many others predicted, they have done it as they observed the improving epidemiological situation and the rapidly increasing vaccine rollout.

They have in fact moved faster that I thought they would, even if I think they could still go a little faster

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=116369264&postcount=843

Graham

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

As I and many others predicted, they've been forced into it by worsening finances and a significant falloff in public support generally, as well as imminent reopening in NI and the EU vaccine passport

Simple as that.

Case numbers are manageable and we've vaccinating people.

Simple as that

Graham

ArthurDayne wrote: »

OK, so why then -- if our strategy was about minimising infections --- did we not pursue a strategy closer to Zero Covid?

No

Next

Beanybabog

Is the any mention in the leaks of the levels? The passport office won’t process new applications until we’re out of level 5. All they’ve done so far is amend level 5 not move down the levels

Leftwaffe

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Yes

Well, in that case I think you’re being ridiculous too.

Boggles

Jinglejangle69 wrote: »

The whole rhetoric changed drastically within a few days.

MM only saying a few days ago it's an outdoor summer.

Anyway thank god they changed their minds, whether vaccine or finances.

MM has been consistent on Q2. His last address was actually very positive and laid out a lot that would happen over May, June and July. But he has been banging on about Q2 since the start of the year.

We are also ahead of best case scenario in terms of key indicators, vaccine supply and a plan has been achieved.

When he talks about "outdoor activities" or an "outdoor summer" that was advice for the populous, something which we will hear a lot over the next few months.

Basically ye know how to protect yourselves at this stages, outdoor activities much riskier than indoor.

Sharpyshoot

facehugger99 wrote: »

There's no doubt lockdown has suited a lot of people both financially and lifestyle-wise.

Being able to virtue-signal on social media about saving grannies probably adds to the appeal.

The fact that this seemingly comfortable lifestyle is being underpinned by tens of billions of euros of borrowings, doesn't seem to have entered their little heads.

The lads on the pup are in for a very swift change and very soon.

_Kaiser_

Ah come on lads... the desperation here to save face this morning with the "this was the plan all along" stuff just isn't reality.

Only a few days ago the message coming from official sources was a much slower relaxation over June/July and even at that still talk about outdoor only.

This is a signficant policy shift - likely driven by economic factors IMO. It's long overdue and certainly welcome, but let's leave the spin to the likes of Leo shall we?

bear1

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/yes-were-frustratedby-the-inter-county-travel-ban-but-we-must-hold-firm-a-while-longer-40368664.html

My God

OwenM

copeyhagen wrote: »

id say a few posters here were up all night losing sleep at the mere prospect of leaving lockdown.....

Yeah, I'd say the stress of resuming all those things that are more dangerous than catching covid will be enormous, things like crossing the road, cycling a bike.

ArthurDayne

Graham wrote: »

Case numbers are manageable and we've vaccinating people.

Simple as that

Mother of God.

Honestly, in a strange self-flagellating kind of way I admire how some people on here can just freely wander from one rationale to another without any apparent appreciation of the irony or contradiction. My friend, a matter of minutes ago, you called my post "tosh" for saying that lockdown was not based on just minimising infection but on minimising it to the extent hospitals could cope. Now, here you are, talking about cases being "manageable" rather than simply just being minimised.

If the strategy was about minimising Covid and saving as many lives as possible then we would not be reopening anything at all right now. Do you really not see the utter contradiction here between what you are saying now and what you were saying ..well...less than an hour ago?!

It's no wonder you called my post "tosh" if your opinions seem to change every ten minutes.

Uncle_moe

Beanybabog wrote: »

Is the any mention in the leaks of the levels? The passport office won’t process new applications until we’re out of level 5. All they’ve done so far is amend level 5 not move down the levels

Coveney said on Newstalk this morning that the passport office would be fully staffed again next week to clear the backlog. Farcical it ever stopped in the first place.

Boggles

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Ah come on lads... the desperation here to save face this morning

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Yep, and more worryingly is how some people seem willing to accept whatever Tony comes out with without question or whether it makes sense.

As I said earlier and previously, look forward to a MORE restricted summer than we had last year :rolleyes:

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

When in Tony H due back? You can be sure he will be demanding level 5.x again the instant he's back in charge! :rolleyes:

Hmmmmm.

_Kaiser_

Boggles wrote: »

Hmmmmm.

And until 12 hours ago that was the approach.

Hence why I've said this a significant and indeed unexpected policy shift. No contradiction there.

I'm touched you care enough to go back through my previous posts though xx

Boggles

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

And until 12 hours ago that was the approach.

LOL.

OwenM

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought NPHET's and the governments dastardly plan was to keep us in lockdown forever?

No, only as long as the ECB was going to finance it

Fandymo

Beanybabog wrote: »

Is the any mention in the leaks of the levels? The passport office won’t process new applications until we’re out of level 5. All they’ve done so far is amend level 5 not move down the levels

Passport Office is back processing applications. I got a email off them last Thursday to take a new photo, passport will be with me next week.

copeyhagen

Deleted User wrote: »

As I and many others predicted, they have done it as they observed the improving epidemiological situation and the rapidly increasing vaccine rollout.

They have in fact moved faster that I thought they would, even if I think they could still go a little faster

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=116369264&postcount=843

nothing to do wth fanances?

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjMl8zK86LwAhVEsXEKHQYNDrQQxfQBCDMwAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Farid-40274552.html&usg=AOvVaw1JcwjRHe15cgAb6hGyoeXy

TomSweeney

11521323 wrote: »

Because something something India, look at what happened at Christmas, etc.

The only rationale for doing so is out of fear of the worst-case scenario which isn't how a government is supposed to operate but here we are.

The public largely support this carry on which is why they feel comfortable doing it.

Is this the first time in history we are basing policy and rules on "what if" scenarios ?

paw patrol

Boggles wrote: »

I literally don't know anyone that would not jump at the chance of going back to the office tomorrow.

The craic fell out of that one around May last year.

This may surprise you given my views - I'm pushing to work form home full time with occasional visits to the office. If I never see the inside of a bus at rush hour again I'll be happy
Work from home been one of the few positives - but that said I'll gladly sacrifice it to get out of this mess of restrictions on living a free life.

Fitz*

Beanybabog wrote: »

Is the any mention in the leaks of the levels? The passport office won’t process new applications until we’re out of level 5. All they’ve done so far is amend level 5 not move down the levels

I received my new one last week. I had applied in January. They never sent the passport card though, which I had paid for, and there's nowhere online to check the status of that.

Ridiculous that that service stopped because of level 5.

Boggles

Uncle_moe wrote: »

Coveney said on Newstalk this morning that the passport office would be fully staffed again next week to clear the backlog. Farcical it ever stopped in the first place.

It didn't.

Mr Coveney told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that 430,000 passports had been processed during the pandemic and that as Minister he had responsibility for people working within the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Because of health and safety recommendations on maintaining distance only a third of staff had been able to work “on the floor” processing passport applications, he explained.

While there was a backlog of 90,000 applications when the Passport Office was “fully up and running” they could process 120,000 applications in a week.

He said: "I expect that we can clear the backlog within weeks.

facehugger99

ArthurDayne wrote: »

Mother of God.

Honestly, in a strange self-flagellating kind of way I admire how some people on here can just freely wander from one rationale to another without any apparent appreciation of the irony or contradiction. My friend, a matter of minutes ago, you called my post "tosh" for saying that lockdown was not based on just minimising infection but on minimising it to the extent hospitals could cope. Now, here you are, talking about cases being "manageable" rather than simply just being minimised.

If the strategy was about minimising Covid and saving as many lives as possible then we would not be reopening anything at all right now. Do you really not see the utter contradiction here between what you are saying now and what you were saying ..well...less than an hour ago?!

It's no wonder you called my post "tosh" if your opinions seem to change every ten minutes.

You have to change your mind in line with what the man on the telly tells you.

pjohnson

Boggles wrote: »

Hmmmmm.

Kaiser actually said "as I predicted" a few mins ago :pac:


Thankfully like most of the conspiracy predictions around Tony it was trash

Fandymo

Fitz* wrote: »

I received my new one last week. I had applied in January. They never sent the passport card though, which I had paid for, and there's nowhere online to check the status of that.

Ridiculous that that service stopped because of level 5.

When I track mine, it says Passport will be with you 6th May, Passport card will follow a few days later. SO i'd say it's on its way to you.

Graham

ArthurDayne wrote: »

It's no wonder you called my post "tosh" if your opinions seem to change every ten minutes.

My opinion has been pretty consistent throughout this thread.

Restrictions are appropriate until case numbers are down, hospitalisations are down and increasing numbers have been vaccinated.

Any other interpretation is entirely your own.

_Kaiser_

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

And until 12 hours ago that was the approach.

Hence why I've said this a significant and indeed unexpected policy shift. No contradiction there.

I'm touched you care enough to go back through my previous posts though xx

I wonder have the been any highly publicised meetings in the past 24 hours which have resulted in change of message?

The desperation on view is in the attempt to cling on to the view that the government/nphet dont want to open and are only doing so because <insert baseless supposition here>, when it has always been flagged that as the epidemiological, hospital and vaccine situation improved, what is happening is what would happen.

Graham

facehugger99 wrote: »

You have to change your mind in line with what the man on the telly tells you.

It's obviously going to come as a shock that not everyone has to be told what their opinions are.

Fandymo

Boggles wrote: »

It didn't.

Maybe tell the Department of Foreign Affairs.

https://www.dfa.ie/passports/

The Passport Service has paused operations in line with the move to Level 5 of the Government's National Framework on Living with COVID-19 from 24 December 2020.

Graham

copeyhagen wrote: »

nothing to do wth fanances?

More likely to be improving cause numbers, hospitalisations and numbers vaccinated I'd think. Which was the plan.

copeyhagen

copeyhagen wrote: »

nothing to do wth fanances?

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjMl8zK86LwAhVEsXEKHQYNDrQQxfQBCDMwAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Farid-40274552.html&usg=AOvVaw1JcwjRHe15cgAb6hGyoeXy

That article was almost entirely about cuts in covid spending. Are you saying that covid related expenditure is not something that should be pared back as restrictions ease?

TomSweeney

btw to all the people **** over India, India has 244x the population of Ireland, India had 3,500 deaths yesterday, Ireland had 12 .... quite similar in proportion, the media are hyping it as they are using absolute numbers.

Boggles

Fandymo wrote: »

Maybe tell the Department of Foreign Affairs.

I just quoted The Minister for Foreign Affairs, if you have numbers that refute his, by all means, link them up.

Boggles

TomSweeney wrote: »

btw to all the people **** over India, India has 244x the population of Ireland, India had 3,500 deaths yesterday, Ireland had 12 .... quite similar in proportion, the media are hyping it as they are using absolute numbers.

You could oxygen in Ireland yesterday.

growleaves

Lads it was Martin and Varadkar who spoke about rolling lockdowns into 2022 - and they haven't walked that back.

Be careful mocking now because if we're back in lockdown in October you're the ones going to be shilling it, going on about an outbreak in the Sahara or variant D1227 or some other nonsense.

Beanybabog

Fandymo wrote: »

When I track mine, it says Passport will be with you 6th May, Passport card will follow a few days later. SO i'd say it's on its way to you.

I have an issue date but I read somewhere on boards this is automatic so issue dates have come and gone without passports arriving. Mine is a new application for a baby which have all been on pause due to the supporting documents. Be interested to see if yours arrives on time!! Mine is shortly after

CalamariFritti

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Ah come on lads... the desperation here to save face this morning with the "this was the plan all along" stuff just isn't reality.

Only a few days ago the message coming from official sources was a much slower relaxation over June/July and even at that still talk about outdoor only.

This is a signficant policy shift - likely driven by economic factors IMO. It's long overdue and certainly welcome, but let's leave the spin to the likes of Leo shall we?

In fairness I do think vaccine availability and what they see from vaccinations that were administered so far plays a big role. I feel like they must have got a big delivery and more to come. I even got a shot on Monday myself as my GP had plenty of overs from current batch and I was called in with what looked like dozens of others if not more. I'm only just over 50. I was told there is a free bus now running every 15 minutes from my town to the nearest vacc center. It really is happening it seems.

The emergency legislation is to expire on 9 June but if it is extended after the vote where would this leave things in terms of easing of restrictions.

paw patrol

facehugger99 wrote: »

You have to change your mind in line with what the man on the telly tells you.

this x1000 percent.

esp if that man is Luke O'Neill who tells you masks don't work . Then a few months later will tell you they do work cos the science is "overwhelming" (his words) - decades of science overturned in an "overwhelming" manner in a few months.
seem legit to me :rolleyes: but who am anybody to question the professor?

Beanybabog

CalamariFritti wrote: »

In fairness I do think vaccine availability and what they see from vaccinations that were administered so far plays a big role. I feel like they must have got a big delivery and more to come. I even got a shot on Monday myself as my GP had plenty of overs from current batch and I was called in with what looked like dozens of others if not more. I'm only just over 50. I was told there is a free bus now running every 15 minutes from my town to the nearest vacc center. It really is happening it seems.

Are you in a cohort above the age group do you mind me asking? I was at the GP for my baby’s vaccines (not covid!) and I asked the nurse how it was going and they’re still working on their over 70s which sound depressingly slow. Heard the receptionists talking about cancelling appointments as no vaccines

Graham

gansi wrote: »

The emergency legislation is to expire on 9 June but if it is extended after the vote where would this leave things in terms of easing of restrictions.

I'd imagine in exactly the same position.

Graham

Beanybabog wrote: »

Are you in a cohort above the age group do you mind me asking? I was at the GP for my baby’s vaccines (not covid!) and I asked the nurse how it was going and they’re still working on their over 70s which sound depressingly slow. Heard the receptionists talking about cancelling appointments as no vaccines

Something like 190,000 vaccines arrived in the country yesterday.

The plan remains to vaccinate up-to 450,000 per week over the next month or two.

Boggles

growleaves wrote: »

Lads it was Martin and Varadkar who spoke about rolling lockdowns into 2022 - and they haven't walked that back.

Be careful mocking now because if we're back in lockdown in October you're the ones going to be shilling it, going on about an outbreak in the Sahara or variant D1227 or some other nonsense.

Best way to combat that scenario is to get yourself vaccinated when it is your turn.

As for doom mongering about "D1227", best way to combat that is sensible and effective infection control measures at our ports of entry.

UK and EU need to be on same page for this.