A change in approach is vital to stop lockdown cycle

IT’S time to have a constructive discussion on what concrete measures the Government can take to stop the rolling lockdown cycle. The massive spiral in infections which resulted in the country going from one of the best in the world to the bottom did not happen without some poor decisions being taken. Covid-19 may be invisible to us, but we are highly exposed targets to it, and the more we come into the open and congregate, the easier we are to hit. Our imme- diate concern is to resolve the severe situation of hospital bed capacity and secure medical workers.

The pace of vaccinations is not keeping up with what we need in the face of threats from variants.

Further delays in supply of one of the vaccines have just been flagged, so we know a more urgent circling of wagons will be required before there’s any chance of the cavalry coming over the hill.

Today Taoiseach Micheál Martin will extend the period of Level 5. It’s not in our nature to buckle under the pressure of adverse events. Even so, there’s a time for putting up and a time for saying enough is enough.

A change in approach is now essential. Doing anything less than all we possibly can to keep this virus out, is no longer acceptable. We need to see more effective and consistent measures to overcome the threat faced by the nation. Last week, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that quarantining people with a negative Covid test for 14 days would be “disproportionate”. Many scientific experts would disagree given the risk from rapidly mutating variants.

However, the sight of Garda checkpoints all along the route to Dublin Airport yesterday suggest there may be a change of thinking.

We need controls to keep the virus away; airports and international transit lounges are notorious for spreading. People are exhausted doing all in their power to keep each other safe by self-isolating. It was inexcusable that those visiting the country who breached travel protocols were not even being properly monitored.

At one point, this might have grated. With the new strains in circulation, this laxity could have far more grave consequences.

Co-operation on the Two Island solution has to remain a top priority. This is an exercise in saving life, not face. Diplomatic niceties cannot stand in the way of what is necessary.

Rules for coming into and leaving the country have to be tightened. The switch from a series of casually applied guidelines to stringent regulations could not come soon enough. All sanctions for future breaches of the rules, ranging from higher fines to imprisonment, must be rigidly imposed.

We understand wide use of vaccines is our only passport to a return to normality. But the things we have power over must be managed more resolutely. Speaking on RTÉ yesterday Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said we need a “multi-layered” approach.

People don’t mind what “approach” is taken so long as it works. Expecting people to placidly go from one open-ended lockdown into the next, indefinitely, is not sustainable. Nor can it be mistaken as a substitute for a convincing exit strategy.

This is an exercise in saving life, not face