No we don’t..
Civic prizes for citizens who helped
THE Greens and Fianna Fail put the brakes on summer holidays yesterday, just hours after their historic coalition deal with Fine Gael.
Holidaymakers are set to be furious over an apparent U-turn to publish a “green list” of countries we can fly to from July 9 without quarantining.
Greens leader Eamon Ryan and Fianna Fail’s new Health Minister Stephen Donnelly appeared to torpedo last week’s plan by Leo Varadkar to open the skies in one of his last acts as Taoiseach.
The confusion comes as his successor, Micheal Martin, grapples with a storm of criticism for ignoring the West in the distribution of Cabinet posts – described as “astonishing and deeply worrying” by Labour leader Alan Kelly.
Now the new Government’s dithering on foreign travel takes away any certainty travellers had of jetting off this summer.
In more bad news for take off, health chiefs in Spain’s Balearic Islands say the region could have to be closed again to tourists if the Covid-19 situation worsens.
Minister Donnelly claimed he cannot guarantee there will be any flights anywhere from July 9.
He said: “My understanding is that no commitment has been given as to when that list will be implemented, so there is no Eu-level agreement just yet on this. There aren’t agreed protocols within the different countries.”
Crucially, there is no clarity on whether we will have to go into quarantine for 14 days when we return from our jaunts. He added: “You could have a situation where country X was put on a list, people in good faith went to work or holiday in country X and while they were there, we would have to say, ‘actually it is no longer on the list’ and people would have to come home and self-isolate.
“Another big issue we have is there’s a lot of volatility in what’s happening, even just around Europe.
“There’s a lot of detail that would need to be worked through on this.”
FIVE Dubliners have been honoured for their work in helping others during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lord Mayor Tom Brabazon presented them with Dublin Crystal in praise of their status as Covid Heroes yesterday after public nominations.
Glenda Harrington, who leads a soup run for the homeless called Friends Helping Friends, was honoured as was Rev Rob Jones and volunteers who worked in Rathmines.
Theresa Kelly, who set up a sensory garden for children with autism and organised food deliveries, was praised alongside Moira Kennedy, who raised €5,655 for Ranelagh Covid-19 Response Team in a raffle.
Michael Larkin who set up balcony bingo in the Ringsend/irishtown area was also commended.
Mr Brabazon said: “I had a difficult task to pick just five. But I just felt this particular group of people deserved special acknowledgement.”