Ireland plans for Phased re-opening

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The Taoiseach (Irish PM) has announced tonight a 4 phase period for re-opening the country but has said that schools will remain closed until September.
Must admit, I’m happy about the delay as I was worried about how I’d manage DS attending school with his dad cocooning as DH has a blood cancer.
Also, that small social gatherings of friends can begin on 18th May outdoors, providing still maintaining social distancing rules. That’s really lifted my spirits as I’m missing seeing my friends.
Any other Irish mumsnetters on here?
What are your thoughts about tonight’s announcement?

Evanna, but none of that is available for the next few months, no camps, no child care, no grandparents, no crèches, for anyone other than key workers, that’s the point of the discussion. The huge financial impacts of that.

And it seems Leo has stated the plan but failed to state rhe financial support people will get during this period when they can’t work, nor has articulated the cost to the Irish people in terms of increased taxes.

So he may well be “considering” the financial impact. But any sensible person would do that whilst deciding a plan, not after.

Cabinet are meeting at the moment to discuss the details of business supports etc. I believe there is going to be a press briefing at 12.

I get what you are saying Bluntness, the economy is going to take a massive hit, and it will cost us for a long time. But I don't think that last night's address to the nation could (or should) cover all the ins and outs of each scenario.

Bluntness100 what do you want Ireland to do?

Bluntness100 obviously the announcement isn't even 24 hours old, but from what I'm seeing it's broadly being seen as sensible. People are of course apprehensive about how they'll cope without childcare and seeing relatives, but the reasoning is accepted.

And yes, people are fully aware there is going to be economic hardship to come, but so far my impression is that people are willing to take the pain.

Leo appears to have the trust of the people to do the right thing.

The narrative, both in the traditional media and online, is very different to the UK.

I just think that there needs to be a balance between the economy and managing the virus, it can’t be all one or the other, and if you decide to remove all child care options for an extended period, then you need to articulate how those people will be supported through it if they can’t work, and you need to articulate rhe cost to the Irish population in terms of your decision to provide that support . Tax increases, unemployment impacts etc,

Not every scenario but it is only right that people understand the very significant financial impacts of the decisions you’re taking on their lives.

You can’t just say, this is it, and not articulate the support and the cost to the wider population.

And yes, people are fully aware there is going to be economic hardship to come, but so far my impression is that people are willing to take the pain

How can they be willing to take it if they don’t know how much pain is involved.

If he said your taxes will increase by five percent and unemployment will be tenfold v now, which is likely, but we will have a short term period of saving lives, although by September nothing will have changed and the virus will still be with us, would people still be willing to accept the pain of they and theirs being personally unemployed? Of struggling due to the increased taxes and not able to pay their bills.

I think saying people are willing to take the pain without telling them what that pain involves is wrong. I get others disagree, but I think it’s unfair on the Irish people and would be beyond appalled if the Uk went as harsh as Leo’s plan.

Bluntness ROI need a plan that works for the ROI.

UK needs a plan that works for the UK.

They are not necessarily the same thing.

I dont understand what you expect Bluntness. This is very obviously a situation with a lot of moving parts.
Everyone in Ireland understands we are going to be paying for this for a long time. We are all pissed off, but what can be done the face of a natural disaster?
Leo does have the trust of most* of the population. Even people who have never agreed with his party politically. But we believe that he is intelligent enough to understand the complexities of the situation, while being decent enough not to want to see mass suffering and death - for whatever reason - on the streets. What else can you reasonably ask for. There are no magic wands

Not in Ireland, but I read the suggested plans.....
Not criticising- probably the right decisions, but it did make me feel really depressed- realising how long it'll take for things to get back to normal-ish...... (and by that I mean ALL businesses back open be it with strict rules around social distancing)......

I'm not Irish but I think his plan is very sensible and hope the UK do something similar.

By the way, it is clearly the work of many more people than Varadkar. We are relying on the skills of permanent, non-political civil servants, including medical advisors, to provide the research basis and advice to currently elected politicians. Varadkar gives the speech and is the face, but not the only mind behind decisions.

Bluntness, if you saw my earlier comment re spending on this crisis versus banking crisis, there is some idea there of the magnitude of the debt. But with a significant difference that a lot of the 30bn Covid spending is going directly to citizens in the form of direct and indirect subsidy of business. In other words it remains in the economy as opposed to disappearing into the ether as the bank bailout did.
I think most are expecting an economic downturn, but it is very different to the boom and bust scenario we recently came through.

An additional difficulty will be how we interact with countries who do not get Covid under control. The plan is focussed on Irish citizens which we can all get behind. I would like clarity on how we deal with international travel. Given the Brexit/border issue it’s obviously a politically difficult thing to discuss. But it seems the biggest risk to Ireland in terms of a second surge.

I like the way the Irish pm has handled this. Plans can be jumped on of course and the has seen lots of veiled criticisms of many plans on the media and on this site. A plan is important for peoples mental health in these uncertain times. I have one daughter in ROI and another in london - i know which one i feel is safest.

I’m Irish and so far ok with it as a broad plan - there will be changes obviously as they iron out the kinks but at least there is some semblance of a plan.

In terms of childcare, I’m a SAHM and my DH is WFH at the minute and probably will be for the next few months even tho he’s in construction sector. In his team, they are all being really lenient towards each other as everyone just accepts no one has childcare. We are one of the lucky ones in that I can look after my kids.

It’s gonna of course have an incredible impact on the economy but name us one country it won’t? Irish people have a great sense of ‘let’s just get on with things’ which is probably why things have been ok here so far

Bluntness, people not working in Ireland because of covid are getting a covid payment. Of course we understand this is hitting our economy hard, it is hitting the whole world hard. The vast majority in Ireland however are following the restrictions to stop the spread and protect our vulnerable. The vast majority support this knowing that is is affecting our economy. I am sure the situation is similar in the UK.
I think the thing that hit me from Leo's speech and looking at the documents etc is that is is not going to be over anytime soon. Life really will not go back to normal in the foreseeable future.

Very true Sparkl.
I'm just glad there doesn't seem to be the partisan kind of stuff you see elsewhere.
Of course there people criticising elements of the plan or picking over numbers and so on. That's fair enough. But there doesn't seem to be behind the scenes factions which leads to loss of public confidence.
FB frothers are a different story.

Just this morning the irish minister for finance has signed off on a €6.5bnpackage of new supports to help businesses to reopen as Covid-19 restrictions are slowly lifted.

@Evanna13 is the covid payment similar to the furlough 80% up to £2500 that is in the UK?

Not at all ,Bluntness; your assumptions about me are quite wrong. I am on furlough from a minimum wage job for an agency, that I only started in February. But I see the health of the nation as more important than the economy or my own financial situation.

The UK government has a lot to learn from Ireland and other EU countries about how to handle the situation better.

The covid unemployment payment is 350 euro per week as far as I know

peppafrig

€350 per week for people who can't go to work (as a result of covid)

Sick pay the same if you are off with Covid

Businesses that are open, and can pay staff, can claim back x% of their wages. Not sure about the figs/limits.

Thanks

I trust him as well. We were lucky to have a doctor as taoiseach at this point in history. He listens to the experts.

Obviously we need to move towards a working society again but I think they will titrate the restrictions with the hospitals' capacity as we go along.

Bluntness Leo has already told the nation in an earlier speech that we'll be fucked financially but we have good credit rating with the world banks. We'll be fucked for years. We know this.

But nobody will get left behind. We know many business will never reopen. We know vast swathes of the population will be on unemployment for a good while after. We know there will have to be extensive support from government grants for years to come. We know there isn't going to be much infrastructure built for years but we're not too bad for that so it doesn't matter.

But we will have access to a lot of EU funding, as always. We will manage, as always.

But we will have access to a lot of EU funding, as always

I think that may be interesting. And I am not sure its something you can rely on.

I'm a Brit who would have much preferred the UK remain in the EU.

BUT the EU will have lost the UK contribution which was 2nd only to Germany.

France/ Italy are net contributors and have been badly hit. Netherlands too.

I just don't know how its all going to play out over the next few years.