Drogheda’s People Before Profit spokesperson, Gus MacDonald, has criticised the government’s living with Covid policy, he says it is beginning to look more like a prison sentence than a solution!
“The discontent of the country’s population is in danger of exploding as lockdown fatigue is exasperated by the calamitous handling of the pandemic and the lack of any clear pathway out of the virus’s grip” he says in a statement issued last night.
“A year on and our government seem incapable of taking the steps that would allow us to escape the confines of our homes. At present, Ireland is little more than a vast open prison which you can leave and return to, with little to no repercussions.
“Many now look to those still in employment and long for the day they too can escape the confines of the home and return to work. This is not solely for the purpose of financial security but also for the social interaction and the change of scene.
“As a strong supporter of a zero covid strategy, it’s a great disappointment to see government ministers dismiss the policy with such condescending superiority that only those embedded in an establishment far removed from the plight of ordinary people can assume.
“It can’t work here!” they say.
“But It has in Australia, New Zealand and even in Vietnam. A country with a land border so vast and porous it allowed the Viet Cong to defeat the most advanced and powerful military force of the modern world. A country of 96.46 million people with 2,448 cases, 1,876 of which recovered and a death toll of 35.
“Yet somehow, that won’t work on an island of five million in the north Atlantic?
“The truth is that since the recession of 2007/8, the mask of concern worn by consecutive governments has slipped to reveal the ugly truth that lies beneath.
“The faux concern of the wooden actors of the establishment has worn thin in the eyes of large swathes of the population. For over a decade now, we have rolled from crisis to crisis, just as we have from lockdown to lockdown during the pandemic.
“The violence on the streets last Saturday by a fascist minority was all made possible by the policy of a desperate establishment. Those who attended were duped into thinking this was a protest against the restrictions and government failures but in reality, it was nothing of the kind.
“We are all tired of the virus, but to simply lift the restrictions with no real plan for its aftermath is to consign thousands more to the soil of Ireland before their time. It’s now imperative that in order to conserve life, public safety and order, we must introduce a zero covid policy.
“If this government, captured by the interests of investment portfolios and financiers won’t do it, then they should to step aside and allow those more in tune with public opinion to do so.
“Anything less would lead to further division, disorder and an increased death toll. On their heads be it!”
