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

Someone doesn't like the GAA.

18 months in and we are still at this

On the marathon, seems to be alot of finger pointing and blame being misdirected (nothing new there or some emotional posts) or perhaps people have a lack of understanding as to how an event is planned etc

From talking to a neighbour involved at a decent level in his athletics club.

Organisers engaged with DCC, Gardai etc as usual to start to plan, initial plans put in place.

To run a road race requires a license, athletics Ireland will assist with the road race license along with partial insurance cover. Getting a private insurance company to cover for higher costs is the next step but that won't happen, you can't get insurance cover for activities that go over current limits which brings us onto the next problem.

Now the problem you have much like EP is you can't get licenses for events in the future outside of the current limits as they don't know what the public health advice is in 3 weeks time never mind 3 months time.

So the organisers are left with the decision, wait it out and keep ploughing ahead with the planning aspect, investing the money etc then hope that limits etc are lifted by then or you just leave it and don't take the risk of investing time and money while waiting a few weeks to see what the latest advice is (now expected end of this month). Organisers picked the second option, could they have waited it out ? quite probably but they decided not to and I can see why they'd pick that as well. Both options have upsides and downsides. Personally I'd have waited it out but then again I don't have to deal with the financial complications, licensing etc

Much like EP there's only so much you can do but ultimately your hands are tied with licensing (another area that needs a complete overhaul)

So we're back to flatten the curve are we?

Yes, usually we associate the word 'conservative' with tradition. It isn't a synonym for inertia. Ripping up our way of life and replacing it with a series of intrusive bureaucratic dictates is the least conservative thing any government has ever done.

At the end of the day we have to start living again at some stage.

The health service is there to protect us, not the other way around. This seems to have been forgotten completely.

Again, everyone will be vaccinated by September so if we don't get back to normal then, when will we?

The organisers made the correct decision in my opinion. There's no reason way they could invest the sums required without assurances from government. Which leads into the real problem, one which most people can agree on, and that is a complete lack of planning, clarity, and communication from our government beyond there next 4/6 week window. It blows my mind that we are in mid August, about to start 12-15 year olds, yet still have no idea what the next steps will be. That is utterly disgraceful from our government.

There have been full capacity concerts in the United States - Chicago, NYC - since June.

That is not really fair. No organiser can put together an event without insurance. Say someone falls and breaks a leg doing the park run. Insurance company will happily tell the organiser to get stuffed and then they are on the hook for damages.

I thought it was well established that the DCM organisers had very little option but to cancel, that they could not get any clear assurances whatsoever from the government that would have allowed them to proceed.

An outdoor running event at the end of October, a date by which even the most pessimistic projections would have had the vast majority of the population fully vaccinated and the organisers could not get any indication from government that it would be allowed.

That isn't caution, that isn't conservative, that is incompetence and cowardice on a grand scale.

Foo Fighters played to 100k in Chicago last week

Guns and Roses are in the middle of a sold out stadium tour as we speak and played Meadowlands on Saturday night to 70k!

Multiple other acts are back on the road playing anything from theatres to large arenas and stadiums!

Despite what RTE would have you believe, the world never stopped spinning and it’s time to get back on board!

Again we're absolutely paralysed here from doing anything because of fear. From what I can see Ireland is one of the only countries still not operating a Parkrun out of the 22 countries they operate in. We blame everyone: NPHET, politicians, insurance companies etc but never ask why again we are such outliers. Irish people will accept any old nonsense in the name of "safety". It's so sad to see these things not happening because of fear, fear of living. Parkruns are back in the north since the 26th June but not down here. If we can't organise these things and get people out in the fresh air in the middle of summer, then when can we?

So it’s “name any country… except the countries doing it” yeah?

we don't even have a plan to do that

we still don't have vaccinated people walking around without masks or requirements for social distancing in a restaurant!

No, it's the double-standard here. "We want our country wide open with all restrictions dropped, like other countries".

When asked for an example, they always provide examples of countries which still have restrictions in place. That particular poster is one of the most vocal anti-cert protesters. They'd be foaming at the mouth if Ireland opened vaccinated-only indoor gigs.

Chicago and New York were the two examples of states doing full capacity gigs given by the poster.

What countries are doing full capacity indoor gigs with no restrictions in place?