Covid: Latest measures set to be persuasive rather than prescriptive

The most senior figures of Government spent time last night considering a blanket ban on children’s playdates and attending pantomimes.

In any other moment of time, the only place you might hear that banal proposition being floated would be on the stage of the Gaiety or the Olympia – and coming from the mouth of a wicked warlock or an evil stepmother.

But Covid-19 has changed fundamentally the way we think about even the simplest of things and seemingly innocent of activities.

Oh no, it hasn’t.

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Oh, yes it has!

Excuse my juvenile humour there, but what seemed trivial is now deadly serious.

As Cormac McQuinn and Pat Leahy report, the Cabinet will meet this morning to consider its response to the continuing surge in cases

A further 4,607 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Monday evening as chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said the virus “continues to have a significant impact on our health service”.

As of 8am on Monday, there were 579 patients hospitalised with the virus, with 115 of those in ICUs.

Speaking on radio yesterday, Stephen Donnelly said things were actually looking relatively positive recently, with evidence people were being more responsible when it came to limiting their contacts.

But that was before the arrival of the new variant: Omicron by name, ominous by nature. It’s more transmissible than Delta which was more transmissible than Alpha. The only consolation is that (so far, and only so far) it causes only mild symptoms.

Donnelly also said there was a high likelihood that the new strain was already in the country. That would not be surprising as there is already evidence of community transmission in several EU countries and Britain.

The measures that will be announced in Cabinet will be persuasive rather than prescriptive. They call for common sense. The hope is that all the measures announced, in addition to stronger public health messaging, will keep the numbers either stable or falling, while the rest of us await the booster shot. Some 800,000 people have received it already.

The advice to parents will be that if they are considering a playdate and a visit to the pantomime for their children in the same week they should only do one.

Ministers are also expected to sign off on a recommendation that children over nine wear face masks in primary schools.

In a quickly scheduled meeting, the Coalition party leaders met chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan along with Donnelly last night. Deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn, Prof Philip Nolan and Dr Cillian De Gascun also attended.

It looks like we are not going to take the precipitative action of the UK by demanding PCR tests upon arrival.

Instead, there will be some extra measures such as self-isolation, more detailed passenger locator forms and legislation to reintroduce mandatory hotel quarantine, as well as using a  short period to get a better picture of the likely threat posed by the new variant.

Blocks removed from mica redress scheme

It looks like, after years of campaigning, thousands of homeowners in Donegal and Mayo have finally got the compensation scheme they have fought so fiercely for.

Very late last night (just before 11pm), the Government issued a statement saying Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien will be hosting a press conference around lunchtime today after bringing a memo to Cabinet on the mica issue.

That was a signal that a breakthrough had been achieved. For the past few years the big areas of contention had been the maximum sum of money payable per house, and whether or not the Government would be willing to pony up 100 per cent.

Those two issues had been resolved before yesterday: the new maximum limit is €420,000, while the 100 per cent was also agreed.

The big matter of division until last night was how much the Government was willing to pay per square foot. The Government said it would base payment on an average “per foot” rebuild cost for the northwest of €138 per square foot.

But campaigners said that was a 2020 figure that has not taken construction inflation into account. We understand the compromise arrived at last night uses a formula of words that reminds that €138 is an average, making clear the figure per square foot can be higher in some cases.

Here is our report.

Best reads

A good reflection by Fintan O'Toole on power and control (ie did Nphet end up running the country by default?) during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pat Leahy leads with this story on plans by Minister for Climate Action Eamon Ryan to bring to Cabinet a plan for between four and seven gas-fuelled power stations. That is going to provoke a reaction, for sure.

Playbook

Cabinet is meeting this morning with Covid-19 again high on the agenda.

In the Dáil, Leaders’ Questions is at 2pm. Along with Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and the Independent Group (Marian Harkin, Michael Fitzmaurice, Michael McNamara et al) will feature, followed by the Rural Group (Mattie McGrath, the Healy-Raes et al).

And if that is not edgy enough, we then have two items that will generate a lot of heat and fury in the Dáil chamber. The first is the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund, which attracts less-than-universal support from TDs.

The second will be a debate surrounding Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. There is not too much division on the root and causes of this – but very different responses from political groupings and individuals in the lower house.

The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill is on the agenda, as is the Sinn Féin Private Members’ motion on employment services.

Minster for Higher Education Simon Harris will take priority questions.

In the Seanad, the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Private Members’ Bill on horticultural peat extraction is sure to get a cool reaction from Green Party fellow-coalitionists.

There are statements on the National Development Plan and on the Mother and Baby Homes Redress Scheme.

And finally, the committees. There are a lot of them meeting today but mostly in private. Of those meeting in public, the highlights are below.

The committee on education will continue its discussion on Leaving Certificate reform.

The sub-committee on mental health is conducting pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill. The HSE is in as is the Mental Health Reform Group.

A lack of vroom, vroom as Boris might say as the committee on environment and climate change discusses electric vehicles with the Society for the Irish Motor Industry and the ESB.

The joint committee on housing is discussing the really important matter of marine protected areas with officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.