Covid-19: Nearly there but far to go on the road out of restrictions

Any mountaineer who has climbed Everest will tell you the hardest part is the last 100 metres. You can see the summit right ahead of you. You are nearly there. But you are in the death zone, gasping for breath, stumbling slowly to your destination.

That’s where we are now. Nearly there but far away. Depending on your particular interest, April 5th has become April 12th or April 26th or May something. If you are involved in the hospitality or arts or cinema sector, reopening remains at some undefined point in the future.

As we report in our lead story, the first move is the 5km-from-home limit being extended to countywide. There is also what's called a 'vaccine bonus' that will allow two vaccinated people from different households to meet indoors.

There is also a brewing row caused by a change to the vaccination programme, which will become age-based. It has provoked an angry response from the teacher unions and gardaí who have been moved down the list.

Teachers criticise new age-based vaccine rollout and seek urgent meeting with Government

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Ban on fans at matches may see Dublin lose European Championship games

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Clothing store owner cannot understand why click and collect is off until May

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VHI chief steps aside as inquiry into his Beacon Hospital vaccination ordered

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Micheál Martin delivered the latest plan/timeline by the preferred method of this Government – an address to the nation on primetime TV.

There was a time when a state-of-the-nation address by a serving taoiseach was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Now it’s become common currency – a near quotidian event.

At least in more recent addresses, the Taoiseach has pared down the delivery and ditched the poetry in favour of more flinty and workable prose.

“We are on the final stretch of this terrible journey” was a simple, almost brutal, sentence, but it did the job.

As did his portrayal of the quandary faced by the Government as it tried to grapple with balancing the conservatism of public health advice with the hopes of public expectation.

“The disease we are dealing with now,” he said, “is a very different beast to that which we were facing at the beginning of the first lockdown in Ireland more than 54 weeks ago.

“The so-called UK or B-117 variant is essentially a new virus. It is more transmissible, and it is significantly more dangerous.

“The reality of the B-117 variant is that if it is given any space at all, it spreads very quickly, and the consequences are terrible,” Mr Martin said.

There is no doubt of the veracity of that. Case numbers have remained stubbornly high. The horror show that unfolded after Christmas has had a chilling effect on the Government taking any action that goes against the grain of public health advice.

Yes, we have some of the most severe restrictions in Europe, and some have been in place for many months. Some are innately unfair. Some activities that are allowed are more inherently risky than those currently prohibited.

For example, those who wish to attend church services have really got the thin end of the wedge (and, yes, there has been a minor concession in relation to funerals).

But the byword for many weeks now has been “caution”. The rationale is if we can wait until the beginning of June, all the over-70s will have been vaccinated, an act that will dramatically lower the risk of a high number of fatalities and serious illness.

There is a big-ramp up of the vaccination programme planned from April onwards. The experience of other jurisdictions is unequivocal. Look at the UK: It’s gone from the highest numbers to almost-lowest numbers in Europe.

In fact, the 14-day figures in Ireland are now among the lowest in Europe along with Spain and Portugal. But there will be no ‘meaningful’ anything until vaccines are well bedded.

The Government at least laid out a loose sequencing of what might happen if things go according to plan.

Best reads

Miriam Lord gave a concise summary of the reopening plan in her excellent column on the announcement. "[Martin] held out the tantalising prospect of official haircuts in May. And official extended travel areas. And official socialising outdoors, but with strictly confined numbers. (But none of this mixing outdoors in private gardens.)

“All of this is happening anyway, and then some, but Micheál had to pretend it isn’t. It seems we were lucky to get any leeway at all.”

Worth reading in full.

Jennifer Bray and Jack Horgan-Jones have the low-down on the advice Nphet gave to Cabinet.

And Jennifer's analysis from last night.

Facebook and Twitter appeared before an Oireachtas Committee to talk about a Bill that addresses paid political advertising but ended up facing a barrage of criticism for the unpaid (often anonymous content) on their pages.

Arthur Beesley leads the coverage on the continuing scandal surrounding the Beacon Hospital and its decision to vaccinate teachers from a private school.

Cormac McQuinn reports on the Finance Committee's frustrations with the lack of response from the Taoiseach and others to queries about the €292,000 salary for the new secretary general of the Department of Health.

Playbook

After the build-up to yesterday’s announcement, the Dáil bill of fare today will be an anti-climax – when is it anything else?

The Oireachtas is so inefficient at present. The Dáil is sitting only two days a week. All the committees have their public meetings stuffed into a single day. There is not the kind of scrutiny and detail that a parliament and legislature needs.

There are two pieces of legislation, but both are simple, amending ones. The Public Service Pay Bill 2020 will restore the last of the cuts that were introduced with FEMPI a decade ago. It will mean that TDs’ salaries will tip over €100,000.

The second piece of legislation, the Children’s (Amendment) Bill, is a response to a court case that prohibited the naming of child victims in criminal cases (which also meant the perpetrator could not be named).