There are no rules – only guidance – in our new Covid-infused political reality
THE word of the week is ‘guidance’. Rules, restrictions, recommendations and even laws have been thrown out and replaced with ‘guidance’.
It’s a catch-all word that provides cover during Covid-infused political debate.
We no longer live in a world of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ but rather in a new reality where everything is a suggestion.
A suite of options which you are free to choose from.
When someone in power says something, they are not giving you instructions, but instead outlining one of many paths you may or may not decide to take.
And besides, there is no one in power. The Government is a caretaker administration, the health officials leading the pandemic are only offering ‘guidance’ and even gardaí say the new Covid restrictions are not enforceable.
All these authority figures just happen to be lucky that we are an obedient nation open to following guidance.
The Irish have been happy to put their shoulders to the wheel and fight this one out in the hope things will return to normal sooner rather than later.
We go about our business as best we can and try to make the most of any time we can spend with friends and family.
From the start of the pandemic there have been rules. Why else would society be closing down around us?
First it was rugby matches, then schools, and then we were all told to stay in our homes while everything apart from supermarkets and pharmacies closed. Someone must have been telling us to do all this.
From the start of the pandemic our political leaders have told us they will be strictly following public health recommendations at all times.
They said, ‘we’re not experts but we know a few people who are, and they’ll be making the decisions’.
Perfect, we thought, thank Christ it’s not the politicians calling the shots during this crisis. So, in steps Dr Tony Holohan, the chief medical officer, and his all-powerful team of boffins and doctors.
They are the ones calling the shots, we were told. If you wanted to survive the pandemic you tuned in every night while quarantined inside the safety of your home for the latest instructions from Holohan and the ‘Health Avengers’.
The following morning you made sure you were up in time for the briefing from Department of the Taoiseach assistant secretary general Liz Canavan, who gave further updates on the new rules. People hung on their every word. We started coughing into our elbows even though that seemed a bit weird.
We crossed the street when anyone approached. We threw dirty looks if someone dared stand anything less than two metres from us in the supermarket because these are rules we were told to follow. We only went to the parks for exercise.
We didn’t hang around all afternoon enjoying picnics because we were told this was a bad idea.
But, as it so happens, we didn’t have to follow most of these rules at all because it was just ‘guidance’.
For instance, Ms Canavan insisted she was only offering ‘guidance’ when she
told us not to have picnics or hang around parks during the first phase of restrictions being eased.
Luckily for the Taoiseach this means he was perfectly within his rights to have a picnic with his friends in the Phoenix Park last Sunday while the sun split the rocks, and so are you too this weekend. It will be interesting to see how many people follow the Taoiseach’s understanding of official guidance over the bank holiday weekend.
And as for that two-metre social distancing rule we have been following for months – well that’s just guidance too. Tony Holohan said as much the other day.
“It is not a rule, it is guidance,” he said. He dismissed the idea that it is “some hard and fast law” after politicians suggested easing it. So where does that leave the rest of the rules we have been following? Are we restricted to groups of four or is that just guidance? Can we travel more than 5km?
Who knows anymore and the guards can’t enforce most of the rules anyway.
But thankfully most are happy to follow the guidance even if they don’t have to.
We didn’t have to follow most of these rules at all