Lockdown to last Covid coin to be extended still no plan .

[john m]

The State is burning through its €5.5 billion in coronavirus contingency funding at a higher rate than anticipated, The Irish Times has learned.

A meeting of the Cabinet’s economic subcommittee, attended by senior Ministers and the Taoiseach this week, heard that the fund – comprising two separate reserves apportioned for at budget time last year – has been tapped earlier than expected, for greater amounts, and is likely to be needed for longer than anticipated.

While the State’s coffers are well stocked and borrowing is cheap, the current and anticipated call on the reserve funds illustrates the massive extent of interventions needed due to the current harsh lockdown, as well as the likely PERSISTANCE  of Level 5 restrictions for the FORESEEABLE  future, Government sources said.

Budget 2021 was drawn up based on pessimistic assumptions around a no-deal Brexit and the unavailability of viable coronavirus vaccines – neither of which have come to pass, meaning the economic backdrop is somewhat better than anticipated. HOWEVER the enormous impact of the third coronavirus wave is much more onerous than had been planned for.

Economic costs
The budgetary “baseline scenario” was that the ECONOMY  would co-exist with the virus, with phased restrictions ebbing and flowing but no full lockdown. It also assumed the economic costs of further lockdowns would be LESS SEVERE.

No one in Government has appetite to push back against Holohan



Coronavirus Data Dashboard
Ministers at the meeting on Thursday also accepted that NO FIRM DATE  can be set down for ending the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, even though the number receiving the payment is lower than at the peak last year. There was uncertainty too about when the wider economy can reopen, although there is growing confidence within Government that construction can reopen relatively early. It was conceded that the most stricken sectors of hospitality, travel, tourism and the arts will remain moribund for some time.

     
“We can’t allow these SECTORS to disappear,” said one Minister. “We have to keep them on life support.”

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly confirmed the first batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive in Ireland this weekend, with 43,000 doses expected over the next week.

“We EXPECTED  190,000 doses in total to arrive in February. They will be administered straight away,” Mr Donnelly told RTÉ. STUDIES  have concluded that AstraZeneca is HIGHLY EFFECTIVE  among people over 70, but Irish authorities have recommended the use of only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for that upper age cohort because of a LACK  of DATA  until now on the efficacy of AstraZeneca among older people.

New cases
A total of 1,047 new cases of the virus were reported yesterday and 35 deaths. Some 1,221 people are currently in hospital with virus symptoms, of whom 181 are in ICU units.

Separately, Minister for Education Norma Foley has disclosed her department is planning for a combination of Leaving Certificate examinations and an alternative assessment option, not involving exams. No details have been disclosed of the nature of the assessment option but senior officials in education will now begin bilateral engagement with the relevant bodies.

The Garda will begin issuing €100 fines from next Monday to motorists from Northern Ireland who cross the Border without a reasonable excuse for travelling. The Health Act 1947 has been amended to include those not ordinarily resident in the State as being liable for the fines.

[john m]

AND YOU WONDER WHY WE HAVE LOST TRUST IN POLITICIANS TO FIX THIS MESS

“We EXPECTED  190,000 doses in total to arrive in February. They will be administered straight away,” Mr Donnelly told RTÉ. STUDIES  have concluded that AstraZeneca is HIGHLY EFFECTIVE  among people over 70, but Irish authorities have recommended the use of only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for that upper age cohort because of a LACK  of DATA  until now on the efficacy of AstraZeneca among older people.

We EXPECTED 190,000 doses. EXPECTED not expect so we are not getting them so why tell us .

The MINISTER then said STUDIES say the vaccine is HIGHLY EFFICIENT .Then in the next sentence he says there is a LACK OF DATA make your fucking mind up .A Year to the Day that this thing was discovered and still no Plan ,No Hope no Truth.

[john m]

TDs can’t keep their distance
The strict rule on numbers allowed into the Convention Centre auditorium means parties must keep a close eye on how many TDs are inside any one time.

It’s easy for people to lose concentration in the Health and Safety Dáil where, unbelievably, a mere 45 TDs out of 159 can commune briefly together in a temporary chamber which doubles as a 2,000-seat, three-storey auditorium. Those who get a golden ticket to come and talk into the void must feel very special indeed.

But for all the wide open space cocooning the precious politicians, nothing can account for human behaviour. They may be rattling around like peas in a drum, but it doesn’t stop them forgetting about their masks, or conferring closely or steaming up to the Ceann Comhairle or Leas-Cheann Comhairle to vent their annoyance when they feel overlooked in the speaking list.

Catherine Connolly was forced to address those storming the citadel on Wednesday. “I want to say something in relation to the Order of Business and TDs approaching me. There’s a pandemic and the closeness of the contact is unacceptable.”

So a maximum of 45 TDs are strung around an enormous hall – chosen because it is so much bigger than the Dáil chamber and expensively fitted-out to accommodate all members when necessary – and they still can’t get it right.

Most deputies think the Convention Centre set-up is over the top. But when they question it, they say, they are immediately silenced with those three magic words: “health and safety”.

[Cool Boola]

Here we go round....the Mulberry bush