Sir, – I received a message from my 13-year-old’s football club informing me about the new Government restrictions. This Sunday we have a match approximately 45 minutes away. It is the Government’s position that I and all the other parents drive our children to the entrance to the other club and then wait outside rather than gather around the pitch. Meanwhile the pubs are packed, factories are full of workers, and 50 people can gather indoors for a wedding, as well as many other reasons. I suppose we can all adjourn to the local pub and have lunch where we will be inside and closer together. The Government is losing the people and when you lose the people you cannot govern. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN GLEESON,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
Sir, – “We’re all in this together”, but some of us, like the over-70s, are more in it than others. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – I am in my mid-70s and I feel the Cabinet chickened out. They haven’t gone half far enough. There is nothing new in this, and there are no new restrictions. If the Government needs to give An Garda Síochána new powers, reconvene the Dáil and Seanad. This is an emergency. – Yours, etc,
LIAM CLEGG,
Knocklyon,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – I visited a TK Maxx store yesterday evening. They are restricted to 150 persons on the premises at any one time, supervised by a security guard. Enclosed or open-air sports venues are not permitted similar numbers. Can the relevant bodies please explain? – Yours, etc,
LIAM CLARKE,
Ballinteer,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – The next Covid age-specific strategy is obvious. No restrictions for people aged over 70 years. Some restrictions for people aged between 35 and 70 years. A total lockdown for people aged under 35 years. – Yours, etc,
ANNE McDONAGH,
Cabra,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – The Government is coming out with new recommendations. These include a new plea to the elderly to limit their outdoor activities.
As one who was “cocooned” during the lockdown, I object to all over-70s being put into a “manageable” box.
We are as varied as any section of our society; some are healthy, some have underlying conditions. We have a lifetime of experience, good and bad. Many of us have got this far by using our ability to look after ourselves.
Please allow us the freedom to make decisions for the good of our health. – Yours, etc,
ALAN JERROLD,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – It is heartening to see that An Garda Síochána will soon have enhanced powers with regard to bars and house parties. If people cannot obey simple rules, the full pressure of the law may put manners on them.
The Cabinet is showing gumption against pressure groups and ignoramuses. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’CONNOR,
Cork.
Sir, – “Lock up granny, keep the party going.”
Is this really a public health policy? – Yours, etc,
BARRY WILLIAMS,
Drogheda,
Co Louth.
Sir, – Delivering my son to his match this evening, I will then be forbidden from watching him from the sideline. Yet during this time I will be permitted to go the nearest public house to consume as much alcohol as I can in up to 105 minutes. Or I could go to the airport to watch countless people arrive with undetermined Covid-19 statuses. Am I missing something? Has NPHET and the Government completely lost the plot? – Yours, etc,
JOHN NAUGHTON.
Leopardstown,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – Covid-19 is prolifically transmitted and unwittingly spread by infected people who are not experiencing symptoms. Young, healthy, sociable adults are doing their best to keep the show on the road. It follows therefore that the suppression and containment of Covid-19 requires an urgent escalation in our national testing and tracing apparatus. That apparatus has been consistently slow and deficient to date.
The over-70s are the most cautious and conscientious segment of the population. They should not be subjected to severe and unreasonable blanket restrictions. These people can be relied upon to behave responsibly and they police themselves carefully. They deserve more consideration than we are giving them. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DEASY,
Carrigart,
Co Donegal.
Sir, – I see they are removing many of the exhibits from the Museum of Natural History on Merrion Square. Is that to make room for the over-70s? – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Firhouse,
Dublin 24.
Sir, – I’m incandescent with rage at the Government’s latest approach to the increased incidence of Covid-19 cases. Everyone knows, and the statistics prove, who is behind the spread of the virus.
Yet senior citizens and attendees at sports fixtures, many of whom are parents who transport children to matches, are the main groups impacted by the latest directives. The chief culprits will carry on regardless, obviously and selfishly feeling immune to the virus.
Finally would some emphasis be placed by the same Government and HSE on achieving that magic figure of 100,000 tests per week, which we’ve been hearing about for months, and combine this with properly structured and rapid tracing. – Yours, etc,
CARMEL NILAND,
Galway.
Sir, – As a person over 70, I ask that the shopping hours be from 10.30am to noon.
Let the youngsters get up earlier and give us “cocooners” hours when we can buy a bottle of wine! – Yours, etc,
DENIS CREMINS,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – The Department of Health and the Department of Justice are to consider new legislation to give An Garda Síochána additional powers to enforce health advice.
The Dáil will need to vote on this, but considering it is not due to resume business until September 15th, and that the new measures announced on Tuesday are scheduled to run until September 13th, this makes quite frankly for a wholesale mess!
No wonder people are fearful, perplexed and fed up! – Yours, etc,
TADHG McCARTHY,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Like most people in the elderly age group, I am disappointed that the restrictions on our movements have been reinstated.
However, I find it ludicrous that so many of my peers have stated that we have been targeted or victimised. We have been asked to take these precautions for our own protection. If we were not given these guidelines and were affected by the virus in time to come, these people would probably complain that they were ignored by the Government. It is very little that we are urged to do when compared with those who have lost their livelihoods because of the pandemic. – Yours, etc,
MARGARET BUTLER,
Booterstown.
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Various representative bodies and commentators have suggested that the elderly and vulnerable are being singled out and have been targeted by the Government. This suggests that the immense sacrifices wider society have made and the lasting economic damage which has been accepted by all to protect the elderly and vulnerable have already been forgotten. Perhaps this should have been expected, but it is nonetheless disappointing. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DUGGAN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – Listening to the Government press conference on the new Covid-19 restrictions was not just a case of déjà vu. It was more like a recital of Einstein’s apocryphal theory of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. – Yours, etc,
NUALA DELANEY,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – I resent the corralling of over-70s into one homogeneous group. A group which in my view is being infantilised and which yet again are being advised to remove ourselves from the rest of society, albeit on this occasion being given the discretion of using our own limited “judgment”! – Yours, etc,
MARY MILLER,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.