to think Irish PM Leo Varadkar should hold a press conference to explain why he flouted his own lockdown rules?

[Hypocraticoats]

One rule for politicians and another for the plebs?

However there is no reason Ireland has to be the same as England

Absolutely

The Irish who went to Cheltenham got a lot of flack here. It wasn’t state sponsored though, worth noting.

St Patrick’s day celebrations were cancelled here and that was announced on (I think) the 9th March.

I think it depends on what you mean by lockdown. Out government have avoided the phrase as it is confusing and different countries mean different things by it.

Schools, colleges and nurseries closed here on March 12. People were required to work from home if they could from that date.

Bars and clubs closed 3 days later.

Most non essential shops closed at that stage even though they were not legally required to until March 24.

Stay at home and non essential travel banned from March 27.

The country has effectively been shut down since March 15

Yes, cancelling St Patrick’s was sensible. Cheltenham should have been cancelled and even families in our racing area acknowledge that now.

@dramadrama of course it wasn’t shared by the morons who attended it everyone else was calling for them all to isolate but it got zero traction as politically we couldn’t call out the UK government for their outrageously stupid decision to let it go ahead. So we had to go with the premise that if the UK said it was ok it was okay. Pure ignorance by the UK government to let it take place.

You don’t say who this comment is aimed at

Anyone who thinks the Republic of Ireland is in the UK. So Tory MPs and other assorted thickies.

Remember, there was an English lady who didn't realise Wales was a country with it's own rules ....

Yabvu

No covid deaths yesterday. It's time lockdown was over, it's ridiculous. Sick of it.

@Inniu

I think it depends on what you mean by lockdown. Out government have avoided the phrase as it is confusing and different countries mean different things by it.

Yeah I meant the final ‘that’s it, stay indoors’ etc but that raises an important point about needing to have words with consistent meaning.

...and clear meaning so the likes of Dominic Cummings can’t try and use it to slither their way out as he did the slimy toad.

(I want to know what he has on BoJo...)

I just wanted to add that I am so proud of our country and Leo and Simon and all and how they have seen us through this shit show of a year so far. I like the way people, for the most part, have respected lockdown and the help that is available to the vulnerable is so lovely to see. Everybody pulled together. So well done us!

That might seem a bit soppy but I am very hormonal and having hot flushes and crying at the drop of a hat so may be a bit emotional today.

(consistent meaning between countries that is, guess everyone just picked what worked for them at the time)

I just wanted to add that I am so proud of our country and Leo and Simon and all and how they have seen us through this shit show of a year so far.

And (from England) so you should be.

12th March will be ever etched into my head. Went to work as normal that morning only to have the office at a standstill at 11.15 waiting for Leos very poignant speech. Then a flurry of collecting files and bits, filling car up with diesel on way home from work, collecting kids from school for what was to be their last day of school for the forseeable and dashing home delighted I had a tesco delivery already booked so added extra onto it. Seems surreal looking back.

I am proud of their leadership during the pandemic. I liked Leo anyway though Simon and Hoolahan may have done well this time, it won't excuse their behaviour around the cervical scandal. www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/top-medic-advised-against-cervical-check-review-910324.html
One of the issues SF said they'd tackle if they got elected.
Vicky Phelan now there's a woman with high moral ground, if she had of accepted her hush money we'd never know any different.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CervicalCheck_cancer_scandal Not to derail for those who are unaware of the scandal.

@emeraldshamrock hoolahan did not advise against the query as a cover up. He advised against it as it may undermine the cervical check system and I remember indeed women saying they wanted a retest, women saying what was the point of going for one if they’d all be wrong and the huge backlogs as a result of them having to offer retests to everyone which meant samples were expiring and its likely some cases were missed. So he wasn’t entirely wrong. Given his exemplary leadership during covid it makes me believe even more that he made that recommendation for honest reasons.

I’m not a Leo fan, I wouldn’t vote for him ever. Ireland handled this crisis quite badly in many ways. We needed to shut down sooner, when we cancelled the Ireland/Italy match in early March we needed to have ensured that 1000s of Italian fans didn’t spend that weekend drinking in Templebar for the weekend instead. We should have either stopped flights or introduced a quarantine. We should also have actively discouraged travel to Cheltenham. We should have done so, so much more to protect nursing homes, where 55% of our deaths happened. We should have been much more proactive in our efforts to source PPE and ensure our testing and contact tracing ability. And when we couldn’t test like we needed to we should never have blamed the public for being hypochondriacs instead of just admitting that in a global shortage our abilities were limited. Better than Boris is a fucking low bar to have cleared.

And with all of that in mind, Leo did nothing wrong in the park.

@alittleprivacy Absolutely perfectly put.
I wish I had your way with words, there was many mistakes too.
My friend is waiting outside her aunts care home today, knowing she is dying inside alongside other residents.
He advised against it as it may undermine the cervical check system and I remember indeed women saying they wanted a retest Undermine the cervical check system? That ship had sailed, most of the victim's are silenced now because they're dead.

@emeraldshamrock I’m not sure what you think is to be gained from encouraging people to have no faith in the cervical check system and as a result see numbers being tested drop?

Did someone say they had seen a picture of Leo 'spaced out'. He said he tried all that and decided it wasn't for him. Is the pressure getting to him?

If there's one thing LV has never been accused of so far, it's being common! only on mumsnet.

He might quite like to know that. Somebody should tell him. The next time he's being roasted for having been to boarding school and never having wanted for anything, ever, he might feel that being called common by @xenia on mumsnet gives him a bit of cred with sinn fein.

Yes they have private schooling in common

If there's one thing LV has never been accused of so far, it's being common! only on mumsnet.

That is absolutely hilarious.

The most elitist, out-of-touch Taoiseach we’ve ever had and Xenia has him down as some football yobbo from Wigan.

Would the Shinners listen to Xenia though, that’s the question?

Someone sort that press conference.

My parents live on the same road as the King's Hospital School. That's where he went. Fabulous grounds sweeping down to the Liffey. Mam and Dad's house is just ordinary though (but nice location) lol.

Same class as Kathryn Thomas