Coronavirus in ROI/NI part 2

[Zantedeschia]

Following on from the other thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/craicnet/3834552-Coronavirus-in-Ireland-N-Ireland?pg=40&order=

Or what BlackAmericanoNoSugar said, more succinctly!

I think the accommodation and facilities matter. 200 people in dormitories or whatever isn’t social distancing.

It really makes you think when you realise that it’s cheaper to charter a plane, fly hundreds of workers in, feed, accomodate and pay them than to pay a local workforce. I don’t think it’s that fruit picking is beneath Irish people but that the wages are.

Bulgaria has very low rates of C-19. I wonder how desperate they are to travel from a country with 6 deaths per million to Ireland with 98 deaths per million.

Well according to Facebook(not a reliable source at all I know)there's a picture of the workers after doing their shopping in swords, waiting on a bus to bring them back to their accommodation. They are all clustered together, loads of them, however there is no date on the photo and I cant say for certain that it is Keeling workers.
If the workers are kept on site and safe then okay but if they are going out in large groups, no Social distancing, etc then it's not right. For them, for us unless they were tested before they entered the country. Maybe they were I dont know.

I've seen that picture and someone else is claiming it's a pic from this time last year.
How will we ever know?

Are these new rules actual law law. In which case it's a matter for the guards if they are not following it.

To be honest 7Days I dont believe the pictures. All of the workers doing their shopping?
I dont know if it's law or not. The guards do have increased power alright.

Its extraordinary really. People just love being mad!

Just like the cars coming from England. Someone took a picture from inside the said ship, hardly anyone on it. People have called the Gardaí over the workers. They've investigated and gave advice but found nothing wrong.
Although I am reading a lot of crime books and they are full of dirty cops and business men paying them off.

Keelings can't win, if they let the fruit rot, they'll be wrong, if they pay double wages to Irish people (if they can even get them at that) and charge €10 per punnet, they'll be wrong, bring in their normal workers, they are still wrong. It was a chartered flight afaik so all together. Yes some risk to airline staff but all farmers, food producers, transport staff and food retailers are all still working, while trying to reduce the risk.

I feel most for the Bulgarians, risky for them too for a poorly paid job.

And don't tell me they could hire Irish people. A friend was recruiting and the list of demands from recruitees ..only wanting part-time work, have to have 2 days off together, etc etc. Farming doesn't work like that, its weather and crop dependant, all hands to the deck when picking conditions are right.

No connection to Keelings but I'll definitely be buying Irish strawberries as normal.

Weekend!!!!
I am so glad. Have the dinner cooking and the fire on.
Just saw they have confirmed the covid 19 payment and wage subsidy scheme are taxable, I had a conversation with dp about this yesterday and he didn't think it would be. Of course they're going to try and get some money back somehow.

I am mad at the fuckin internet lads.
Not gonna lie

Country is full of eejits! They dont even know what they dont know

I read about that too, I'm really confused about that though as my payment is my wage after tax. So I dont know if I'll be getting the same or less money. At the moment my wage isnt much above the Covid payment so if it's taxed I'd be better off on the pandemic payment. I'm just hoping that I'll be getting the same wage.

Donna on Liveline is great, for anyone who is lonely. She was on Tuesday if you seek her out. She will talk at you for hours, dh has a cousin like her.

Oh yeah I listened back to that. She did have a point and a right to be upset over what happened but it was so comical that I couldn't take it seriously. She gave her whole life story practically.

You need checks and balances though. I loved the bit about the huge guards.
In fairness hse staff are not supposed to wear their ID outside work, so she may have had it in the poly pocket with the letter.
My dd2 photographs things in shops as does her boyfriend - he's an architect, she's an engineer. If he was on liveline he'd yap away. I know how Joe felt.

I wonder what Donna would have to say about Keelings. Maybe Joe should ring her up and see.
She described everything so well. She was really funny, even though she wasnt meant to be.

She would have plenty to say, on any topic.

I could see Donna's point.
There are chancers everywhere.
You just have to look at the feckers dumping rubbish 😰

And gorse burners. In fairness to the staff she didn't see what was in the poly pocket. My dd1 works for the hse beside a Super Valu, the staff are great at putting aside soap and sanitisers and anything else in short supply, most people are trying their best to make things work.
Fly tipping was on the NI news, a whole island issue.

Ah Poor Donna though, I would've been notified. I hate when the alarm goes off in a shop because a tag or something was left one, I get mortified. When I was a young teen around 13/14, I was in a shop that nearly opened looking around. I had a pack of eclairs in my pocket eating them so my hands were in my pocket, a security guard or someone(a man anyway) came over and asked me what was in my pockets and going on about shoplifting. I was beyond mortified and I was in my late 20s before I ever went into that shop again. I felt so small and I remember bursting into tears outside the shopm

A lot of people are going to be stung by having to pay back the €350 payment. I didn't know until yesterday that (a) it's taxable and (b) if it's higher than your normal wage - for people on minimum wage and part-timers it will be - then the difference will have to be repaid.

For example an 18 year old working in a hotel, not being paid for breaks so doing 36.5 hours per week at €8.08 per hour earns around 295 a week - do they realise they are going to have to pay back €660 at the end of the 12 weeks? I bet they don't.

That's mental @Newaccount. That's a lot of money to pay back. I am not getting more than my wage. I am just getting my wage after tax. If this goes on past the 18th of June with schools/preschool not going back I'll have to sign on for the rest of the summer. I doubt they'll extend the scheme especially for places that are closed for the summer months.

And part timers will be worse off. Take an 18 year old who was doing a couple of days a week; they were all told to apply for the payment when it was 198 a week, then it became 350 and it was just paid into their bank accounts.

How many of them even realise that they will have to pay it back? I've applied for it, got it into my account but not been asked for any proof, not even received a letter outlining how it works, or how much I should be due.

There are young people spending money online all over the place who are going to be in serious debt when it's all over.

How do they decide if your pay varies from week to week? A lot of retail staff work extra hours at Christmas, or earn more at bank holiday weekends.

I always knew it would be taxed, and presumed it would be by reducing tax credits (same as Illness Benefit).

Where does it say it'll have to be repaid if your normally earn less than €350?

I was informed by my work today that it was dependent on our earnings. I don't know the answer eggandonion, and it depends how it's calculated for me; if it's an average for the last year I'm ok, but I've been part time recently.

I don't mind not getting it, I just think a letter from someone setting out the rules would be useful, and I'd prefer not to receive it and have to have it clawed back.

My son had only been in his job for a month; if they suddenly decide normal "dole" rules apply, he'll have to pay the lot back and we'll be completely screwed.