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THE TAOISEACH HAS said the government will not be afraid to act to bring in restrictions in January if Covid-19 numbers rise exponentially.
Micheál Martin yesterday evening announced the phased reopening of the country ahead of Christmas, which will allow for restaurants, gastropubs, gyms and hairdressers to open, and household visits to take place.
However, a warning was also issued by the Taoiseach that if numbers rise, restrictions could be back on the cards in early 2021.
Government sources believe there is a “high chance” a short circuit breaker of two weeks might be needed in January, with the view that such a move would be better than four weeks of restrictions in February or March.
However, such restrictions are likely to only impact the hospitality sector, with non-essential retail set to remain open.
Speaking to reporters at Government Buildings last night, the Taoiseach said that when he announced Level 5 restrictions he flagged that the country could face future restrictions again in January if the virus levels rose again through Christmas.
He said Covid-19 spreads through human contact, so how people act is key.
Martin said there are limits to how the government can attempt to control people’s behaviour over prolonged periods.
The Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan’s letter to government this week warns of how Ireland could find itself in a “precarious” position and the virus could turn “quickly”.
In response to being asked about those concerns, the Taoiseach said:
“Overall NPHET recommended that we move to Level 3 and obviously were concerned about hospitality, to be fair. These are judgement calls all along the way. There is also the need to balance the economic, social and mental well-being as well.
“Of course we have to monitor where the virus takes us after this. Some of this is in our hands in terms of how we behave.
“We will not be slow to act again. If anything we have learned that by moving earlier than most European countries we are in a much better place,” he said.
If restrictions are rolled out again in Ireland in January, they may not resemble what came before, said the Taoiseach.
Government sources have stated that even if a circuit breaker is needed, non-essential retail will not close again.
The Taoiseach indicated that emerging data shows little risk in shop settings.
“We will look at this again in January. We will learn from research and data. You could be looking at a different type of restrictions if we had to move into more restrictions. Just as in Level 5 we had a different set of restrictions than we had in phase one of lockdown in the spring. Construction stayed open, schools stayed open. This is an evolving journey.
“We want this to be sustainable. We will review this on 6 January in terms of new measures that we might have to take or indeed some of these reopenings could be sustainable, some of these sectors might not have to close again. If you take non-essential retail, we will watch that very carefully because there is more data coming in all the time,” said the Taoiseach.
Although not named as such by government, some people have been critical of this so-called ‘seesaw’ approach that has been signposted as Ireland’s path through the pandemic.
Some doctors and academics have campaigned, since the start of the pandemic, for a ‘Zero Covid’ strategy in Ireland, entailing an even harsher and more prolonged lockdown at first to crush the curve of the virus entirely, backed up by aggressive public health measures, including enhanced tracking and tracing, to keep down community transmission.
Minister of State Pippa Hackett previously stated that a Christmas “free-for-all” could lead to another lockdown in the new year.
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Why are TheJournal closing comments to loads of stories? I understand in some instances but it appears to be more and more. Censorship?
@D O’ hArgain: Hardly censorship when you can say what you want under open comment articles. How many news articles don’t have comment sections at all? Nostalgia, desire or entitlement not being met doesn’t equate to censorship.
@D O’ hArgain: it’s because they start off being radical to get as much reach but now they are there they can start shutting down….you all will still follow and still curse them for it….end story….you are the problem you raised….best to stick to Reddit..eff RTE for news.
@Patrick Cadogan: eff RTE for news too
@Mr Inbetween: I’m sure Leo has sleepless nights reading all the edgy comments.
@D O’ hArgain: it isn’t about censorship it’s because people consistently can’t stay on topic and keep commenting on things that are otherwise deemed controversial
All these Dail speeches are wonderful. Helen is committed to this that and the other. She’s fully focused on her role and keeping everybody safe…blah blah blah. All talk no substance. Really and truly what would she know about policing or maintaining law and order in our country.
@Jp Cleary: a lot more than the shinners, that’s for sure
@Felix Price: Not the question I asked.
@Jp Cleary: nah, not the answer you wanted
@Peter Murray: ‘know Lyn’ ? I’m not sure what any of this post means. Any chance you could resend it making sense?
The donegal line is badly needed and would make a massive improvement to the most amount of people, the road upgrade could follow on
@john mc Bride: If they could link donegal to sligo and sligo to ballina, that would link donegal to galway, in fact you could even go the whole way from Donegal to Roslare by train if it took your fancy. What a game changer that would be for us all in the west!
Sinn Fein will lose a lot more support after their latest failed stunt, people are beginning to realise what a useless shower of gurriers they really are
@Felix Price: What makes you think FFG would be be any different from the opposition benches?
@Mark O Brien: because shinners are not a normal party, no decency, an appalling legacy to boot
@Felix Price: How the fk are FG FF etc “normal” in your mind? You do know of FG blue shirt past, or are you conveniently ignoring that? You people are gas altogether
@Felix Price: oh ya. SF the gurriers that bankrupted the country. Lowry, Flynn, Ahern, Haughey to name a few. All SF gurriers.
@Ian: ah come on now, SF murder, rape, bombing and maiming, very recent history, still linked to it all, they haven’t gone away you know
@brian madden: saints compared to shinners
@Cormac Carroll: that has to be the most pathetic straw man I have ever seen on here and that’s saying something
@Felix Price: onto the next account aye Steven?
@Peter Murray: how many times have you said that now ?
Meanwhile, you can’t get a train from waterford to Cork. Well done greens
@Joe Mc Dermott: it’s the Greens fault public transport was decimated for 100 years? They’ve had a smidgeon of power for 3 years ffs.
@eoin fitzpatrick: they are the ones changing old tracks to greenways,, a great idea at the expense of infrastructure, ff and fg just sold out the rest. Two major cities next door to each other and you can’t get a train.. I have a word for them
@Joe Mc Dermott: Our lack of rail infrastructure in this country is solely down to one party and that is FF that went on a rampage vandalising our railway infrastructure ever since the state was founded and in particular during the sixties.
@Joe Mc Dermott: There was never a rail link between Youghal and Dungarvan.
@Joe Mc Dermott: Actually you can. Cork to Limerick Junction then change trains to Waterford
@Joe Mc Dermott: Old tracks have been ripped up, built on, bridges destroyed, track beds damaged and destroyed, generally completely unmaintained. It is expensive just to get many of them into a fit state to be walked on safely. It would be a prohibitive cost to run trains again.
@Joe Mc Dermott: While it’s not their fault, we at least now know that they (like the rest) are not a party that can get anything done. Connecting ports is great and hopefully, it means that some freight will come off part of our road network but this ‘new’ grant following idea will do nothing for the millions of commuters stuck in daily traffic.
@Joe Mc Dermott: I find it quite funny that you see this article and think and you cant even get a train to cork… you know people travel from the top of Donegal to Galway (5 hours) by bus to get cancer care. The west is totally neglected public transport wise, let them have the rail.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: But there was between Dungarvan and Mallow.
Step 1 approve.
Step 2 spend hundreds of millions discussing.
Step 3 sorry we can’t afford.
In 1956 and 1957 the railway infrastructure was decimated in Ireland. The biggest mistake that was ever made. And a lot of these lines can never be reopened.
There are a few closed stations still intact along current lines that might be worth looking at reopening.
Now let’s get the Western Rail Corridor sorted!
Irish rail is a joke last train out of Dublin 9.50 what if you wanted to have a few drinks after work or go to your Xmas party
@Helen Clinton: absolutely run a later train incase Helen wants to go for a drink the odd time.
@paulie: All of Irelands problems in your reply
How about a train that doesn’t take almost three hours to get from Dublin to Galway.
Now lets focus on the Dublin Rosslare line needs attention also.
@Conor Hipwell: Is that the one that passes through Wexford with THREE PEOPLE onboard, and doesn’t even link up with the Ferry? The only bit of attention it will be getting is to shut it down completely – its costing Irish Rail MILLIONS.
@Steve Davis: When you cant afford to own a car anymore you will need it.
How about Navan to Dublin
Oh look reopening a Rosslare line to Waterford that they had turned into a walking path! Sounds like a pretty big waste of money closing it and then reopen it again who closed in the first place? Remind me again why do we have to go through Dublin if I wanted to get from Wexford to Kilkenny? Doesn’t sound like we can leave the car at home for awhile!
@Anne Marie Kearney: Not true. Work had not commenced to turn the Rosslare to Waterford railway into a greenway. The tracks are actually still in situ!! You probably are mixing it up with the Waterford to Dungarvan Greenway.
@Anne Marie Kearney: The Waterford to Rosslare line is owned by a ‘now defunked’ UK company – not the Government. Hence why they will never invest any money into it.
Also why it was never progressed into a Greenway, as they didnt own it and could never get the permission.
Claremorris to Athenry…a nice idea for a few whimsical tourists and no more. The brains behind this one has looked at the Quiet Man far too many times. In the meantime wasn’t that some speech by Sharon Keoghan the other day….the best by any politician in years.
@JP: To where? So you’re against improving rural public transport?
They should put another athenry to Galway line in to increase the frequency of the commuter services too.
The Athenry to Clarmorris alignment won’t see trains for 50 years, and that’s being optimistic.
Rail to airport anyone?
Once again, Donegal gets left out! Donegal had lots of railway until stupid politicians pulled the plug . Image today if we had railway to west Donegal, from Ballyshannon to Letterkenny onto Derry? The most beautiful county in Ireland left isolated , time after time.
@Liam Tighe: Stick to your twin cam sham. No need for trains in the hills.
@Liam Tighe: Was there ever a line from Ballyshannon to Letterkenny? The Letterkenny line came from Derry (as you suggest). But I stand to be corrected.
It’s because they’ve been warned that allowing comments on certain stories could lead to a load of ‘right wing’ propaganda from bad actors. Previously, I nly stories concerning the courts were censored. Legal profession don’t like to be criticised. Now it’s stories of a political caste. They too don’t want to be criticised.
@AnthonyK: which railway line are you on about?
Waterford to Rosslare line will NEVER reopen, its just a pipe dream of Eamon Ryan and a few tinfoil hats. This is just more nonsense about ‘possible funding’, the same way the Government promises to invest in Rosslare Port – problem is, the Government doesn’t own the Port! – OR the Railway track – so it will never actually see a single cent in funding.
@Steve Davis: owned jointly by Irish rail and stena line.
I would have to question the ability of Irish rail to operate additional rail services when they can’t provide food and drink services on the existing routes.
If I can sip chilled white wine while flying over the alps with Ryanair why is Irish rail unable to provide me with a cup of lukewarm tea while travelling through Roscommon.
So, if we build those railways the EU might give us a fraction of our own money back to help pay for them?
@Brendan Fitzsimons: The tax payers of other European countries have pumped far more money into Ireland over the years than what Ireland has pumped back into the EU kitty.
Commuters: We have a massive problem with our transport systems, particularly around our major cities? Government: How about a Euro funded rail line in Wexford?… lmao
I think we forget why these lines closed – no one uses them. Back to a loss making, government funded white elephant or is there a business case that i’m missing?
@Declan Gibney: Different situation now to when a lot of lines closed in the 60s and 70s. You are right to seek a business case but moving freight off road is a significant factor now as companies are compelled to reduce their carbon footprint (wasn’t even thought about back then).
Also the population is higher now and expected to reach close to 7m in the republic by 2046. Other factors are in play as well such as the desire to build up regional towns instead of more one-off housing and regional regeneration as a counterbalance to the east coast.
No comment
Piecemeal.
Is it the Dublin to Derry route?
With the COVID changed work habits and attitudes, and the ways AI will bring even bigger changes, transportation needs will probably be very different in ten years. Imagine not needing to waste time commuting to work? That would be great.
Europe providing money for this. . They really own the country now.
The Athenry to Clarmorris rail service will be put on the long finger for several decades, any money available for it will be diverted.
Wasn’t it Enda Kenny’s own father who played a significant role in destroying the already underdeveloped rail infrastructure in Ireland or was that a different fg FFer.? It’s disgusting how long they are in power and with few if any tangible results. Many of their ‘results’ are down mainly to people power eg same sex marriage and many many bigots voted in that anyway
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