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

Micky 32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696664#Comment_117696664

No, i’d feel guilty taking 500 quid off you ;-)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696681#Comment_117696681

We had a 6 week lockdown from mid October last year with nothing of note happening in hospitals and ICU, & Hollihan wanted that lockdown to begin in late September.

Penfailed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117694960#Comment_117694960

What a load of nonsense. A customs border is completely different to sealing the border to stop people crossing.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696652#Comment_117696652

But that's not really the point. It's not normal for 99% of the media in a country to ignore emails exchanged between high profile people talking about ways to ramp up fear etc.

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696652#Comment_117696652

You're naive to think they've had zero influence. They were on a serious media offensive for months driving a particular negative narrative and generally going unchallenged in their interviews. The tone of public opinion could easily have been swayed and manipulated with their appearances.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696893#Comment_117696893

Yeah, ye have ye’re bogeymen

hynesie08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696664#Comment_117696664

Make it for charity and I'll take you up on that. What's your definitions?

hatrickpatrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696652#Comment_117696652

Zero influence other than the rhetoric they disguised as scientific projections of "life after COVID" being so bleak as to cause severe harm to many peoples' mental health, my own included?

I don't throw this around lightly, it's not something I talk often about. But after their segment last summer on what pubs or hairdressers would be like in a post-pandemic "new normal" (I forget which sketch it was) I found my mental state going down the horribly familiar rabbit hole of "honestly just remember you have a get out of life free card if you ever need it". And I had only ever brushed with that particular horrific mindset once before in my entire life, almost ten years previous.

I spent those ten years developing coping mechanisms after having a very narrow escape. I cannot say with literally any confidence whatsoever that I would have survived this one if I hadn't had, ironically, some pre-existing psychological immune response from a previous 'infection' of that kind.

Obviously COVID itself and the associated social isolation for those on the extreme end of the extrovert scale was the main reason I found myself contemplating those awful things. I don't blame ISAG for that. But their projections of life after COVID never getting back to being able to socialise in large groups without containment measures in place was 100% definitively what pushed me over the edge. It is absolutely obscene that they were allowed to pedal this on publicly funded television without identifying themselves and their agenda.

The leaked emails directly reference the tactic of creating such content to terrify the public into demanding a different approach from government. They openly talk about engaging in this sort of psychological manipulation and praise various RTE journalists, Claire Byrne in particular, for giving them free reign to get their content out there. The problem is that while some people would respond to that sort of existential terror by indeed lobbying government for a change in policy, others might not have that sort of strength left and might decide to stop fighting for life altogether. That's what I found myself contemplating after those sketches aired, and that why I'm so, so angry that it turned out not to be organic, homegrown content as RTE claimed, but the work of a lobby group who apparently felt that sacrificing my mental health was worthwhile if it upset me enough to write to my TD and ask for a change in policy.

How anyone can possibly defend this from a public funded national broadcaster is beyond me. It's absolutely despicable and I for one am incensed that this story never got more attention or traction than it did. Whoever at RTE decided to give these segments and the concealment of their true provenance should be fired and hauled in front of the Oireachtas committee on communications to explain themselves.

Again, I don't have a problem with these people being afforded a platform and being afforded freedom of speech - I applaud that. I have a problem with the fact that this content was authored by a lobby group with a specific political agenda, and that the public were not informed that they were watching propaganda as opposed to unbiased, neutrally written content.

That simply shouldn't be allowed. No matter what side you're on, I don't understand how you can defend or downplay the seriousness of that. Would you be ok with it if, for example, RTE aired a segment entitled "The Bleak Future of a World Without Oil" projecting our lives being miserable and reverting to the stone age because of the switchover to electric cars and clean energy - and didn't inform the public that the segment was written and produced by the marketing department of Shell or BP?

Amadan Dubh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117694847#Comment_117694847

I have to speak for myself on this point, based on the shambolic reaction to covid with multiple lockdowns and scandals, I don't have a lot of trust in FF and FG so I am waiting for them to give a roadmap to getting rid of restrictions before registering for the vaccine. I'd imagine a lot of people who have already been vaccinated and did so more for the easing of restrictions than their own health are a bit ticked off that we still have severe restrictions on social and economic life. It was just to protect the health service, it was just to prepare for a winter surge, it is just to hit herd immunity, it is just to protect the vulnerable, we can't close the borders as we are an EU country, yes to masks, no to masks, it's just if you stay within 2m for more than 15 mins etc. Too much moving of the goalposts and still no actual clear target to do away with the emergency legislation, restrictions on crowds, limits on public transport; it feels very uncertain where our government is going to lead us and they need to give a bit more guidance to us at this stage, it's only fair with the sacrifices we have made.

JRant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697249#Comment_117697249

You'll be a long time waiting to see that roadmap I'm afraid. It'll be early next year at best before we see the removal of the these current restrictions. There's no appetite from the government or from the majority of the population to see them gone unfortunately.

Amadan Dubh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697372#Comment_117697372

That's how it seems anyway, the message is clear; vaccines aren't the way out of this, something else is.

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697441#Comment_117697441

Yep we were almost lied too by MM live on television during one of his speeches

kirk.

Will cost them votes if they try closing things down again now

Richard Hillman

Looks like the Booster jab date is being brought forward. At what stage do they start measuring percentages of booster jabs rolled out to correlate removal of restrictions?

You only need look at the number of politicians and other high profile doom-mongers who’ve been caught breaking restrictions they insisted we’re all about life-or-death safety to realise that we are, in actual fact, not “all in it together” at all.

And never were.

JRant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697579#Comment_117697579

Which lie are we talking about here. The "brighter days ahead", "just a few short weeks", "like a new virus" or my own personal favourite "a hurricane of infection coming our way" (not sure if that was MM but one of those eejits said it).

Sammy2012

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697787#Comment_117697787

Can you explain to me why booster jabs are needed so soon? Or will it only be boosters for certain age groups?

SnuggyBear

Can't be arsed taking more vaccines. I've had my 2 doses and that's that for me.

suicide_circus

Great post @hatrickpatrick

We used to have a name for organisations who use mass fear and intimidation to effect political change....it's on the tip of my tongue..

There has been no consequences for groups or individuals who used the expressed tactic of stoking fear through the most hyperbolic dooms day models and false predictions. These are the enemies of the people, make no mistake about it - this is actual malevolence - and it has been actively facilitated by state media.

I've had my jabs. I've worn my mask. But i'll be fuckked if i'm not going to call out bare faced attacks on the citizenry when i see them.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117694268#Comment_117694268

Stephen Donnelly gave Bishop Larry Duffy a call on his mobile, reminded him of the fate of his near namesake

"You won't be 'tremendous fun' when I'm finished with you Larry"

growleaves

No lifting of restrictions this month apart from letting more people into Croker.

MM now planning for "September and the winter".

The spin has already begun. A poster on another thread said "It was never realistic that we wouldn't have increased restrictions this winter."

'Hay guise its like why wouldn't be going into lockdown ya know?'

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117698265#Comment_117698265

They'll look at care homes and frontline HCWs first plus anyone deemed to be at very high risk. It's unlikely to be another population-wide programme.

DarkJager21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117698397#Comment_117698397

Agreed, this talk of boosters is horse **** and it's not going to wash with anyone if that's the route they attempt to go. I'm vaccinated, my family is vaccinated and friends too, so they can implement Level 10 for all I care - we won't be following them.

HerrKapitan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697787#Comment_117697787

There will always be a percentage of people needing boosters to allow restrictions to continue.

Is there ever a time of year that 100% of car drivers don't need to do a NCT test?

Floppybits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117698571#Comment_117698571

It seems some people just can't wait to go back into lockdown and already these same lockdown enthusiasts are trying to spread the fear of the schools opening at the end of the month. A lot of people are going to struggle getting back to normality when this is over and we are living with covid.

mightyreds

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117698665#Comment_117698665

Ones that are healthy enough not to need it, under 4 years maybe?

brickster69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117698265#Comment_117698265

There is a bit of concern about some vaccines waning so may need to be topped up

This video explains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNbs4LCgrcY

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117698612#Comment_117698612

Individuals traveling outside their 5km etc won't make this end, the only thing that will stop the next lockdown is if a very large number of non-essential businesses refuse to close.

Richard Hillman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117698612#Comment_117698612

Wait until they set an expiry date on the Vaccine Passports. No booster, no indoor dining. They'll get the under 30s queuing back up to keep their Passports updates next year.

Those passports ain't going nowhere. We are locked in for life unless it gets shut down early . They'll be restrictions linked to them forever. This isn't temporary.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117698972#Comment_117698972

Exactly. All use of these QR codes should be rejected. We are not cattle. It starts with indoor pubs but ends with you not being able to work because you're not up to date with your jabs. Reject reject reject.