The legislation which permits lockdowns was set to expire on 9th November last, but the Oireachtas extended it. It is expected the government will push for it to be extended yet again, beyond the current expiry date of 9th June. That should not happen. The legislation is Part 3 of the Health (Preservation and Protection […]
Many rank and file Gardai are deeply upset and frustrated with the role that the Garda organisation has been asked to play during the Coronavirus lockdown, according to three members of the force who spoke with Gript. Last week, Gript was approached by a Garda Sergeant based in Dublin who provided an extensive list of […]
Protest in Patricks Street, Cork, 1st May Photo credit: John Tangney
Curiouser and curiouser. The Central Statistics Office has now issued an updated analysis of deaths in Ireland and they’ve reported excess deaths during the Covid crisis as in a range “between 2,034 and 2,338”. This means that, even allowing for the fact that the analysis covers a period of time which is straddling two winter peaks […]
If there is a spike in Covid cases following the minor easing of restrictions, then the government will change its plans, Fine Gael Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has warned. According to Coveney, NPHET are the group who monitor the case data, and they had previously indicated that the government should only be considering […]
If you were to ask a progressive parent in Ireland, or indeed most of the western world, about their attitude to teenage sexual activity, the chances are that at some stage you would hear somebody say words to the effect of “if they are going to do it, let’s make sure it’s as safe as […]
Establishment media coverage of the large protest against the lockdown in London last weekend provided a typically distorted view of what had actually taken place. If you were dependent on most of the English speaking broadcasters, you would have gained the impression that there were maybe “several thousand” in attendance and that there were incidents […]
Not many people, likely, remember the name of Richard Reid, or the way he changed a small part of our lives forever. On December 22nd, 2001, Reid, an American national who had, nonetheless, fallen into the fever-swamps of radical Islamism, boarded a plane in Paris, France, bound for Miami, Florida. About halfway through the flight, […]
That flat line in the graph below represents cases in the State of Texas over the past thirty days. Texas lifted its lockdown, mask mandate, and all covid restrictions…. Nearly sixty days ago. In Ireland, you’ll recall, the alleged symptoms of our “going wild at Christmas” (which is now an unchallengeable part of our national […]
Tricky pub quiz question – who is Ireland’s Minister for Defence? The reason it’s a tricky question is that Ireland, uniquely amongst countries, doesn’t have a Minister for Defence or certainly one with sole responsibility for the defence of the country. Given that the defence portfolio is stitched on to Simon Coveney’s responsibilities as Minister […]
The media was predictably full of images of crowds of young people in parks and on beaches again last weekend. The narrative is that they are somehow exposing the vulnerable to risk by this- but is that really true? I am a vet based in Co. Kildare. Like many, I was quite content to go […]
Businessman Declan Ganley has called on the Irish Bishops to “open their churches” in defiance of lockdown after his constitutional case against the state in relation to the right to worship was delayed yet again. His case – which states that the ban on public worship is illegal under the Irish constitution – was originally […]