We deserve our freedom for good Covid behaviour
Western counties claim they are penalised for Dublin’s high cases
PEOPLE in the west where case numbers are low are being ‘penalised’ because of high numbers of cases in the east and particularly Dublin, politicians and business owners have said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Government ‘may very well’ go with a regionalised approach to easing restrictions but for now the preference is to go on a national basis.
According to data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, over the two weeks from April 2 to April 15, the latest figures that are available, there were 5,666 cases of Covid-19 recorded across the country; however, they were largely concentrated in a handful of counties.
Dublin, for example, had 2,449 of those cases, which is over 43% of the total. the capital is far ahead of
‘Open Sligo and see how it goes’
any other part of the country with no other county even coming close to breaking four figures.
In the same period, Kildare had 438 cases, Donegal had 303 cases, Meath had 277 and Cork had 269. In contrast, Sligo has had 12 cases in those two weeks and it’s five-day average number of cases was zero. Kilkenny had 24 cases, with a fiveday average of three a day.
Kerry had 58 in two weeks and, on average, six cases a day over the previous five days. Clare, meanwhile, had 44 cases in two weeks and an average of five in the previous five days.
Sligo restaurateur Anthony Gray said it is ‘absolutely ridiculous’ it has not pursued a different approach because what has been tried so far has not worked. He said Sligo is not seeing the benefits of it bringing case numbers down. ‘Open Sligo and see how it goes, but they are not going to do that. Once Dublin has the numbers high, they won’t even consider it,’ he said.
‘There is no reason in the world that we couldn’t do it even on a trial. I would definitely be for anything to save both my businesses.’
Mr Gray said Sligo shouldn’t be penalised for the high level of cases elsewhere, particularly in Dublin.
FF TD for Sligo-Leitrim, Marc MacSharry said policy across all disciplines is ‘Dublin-centric and east coast-centric’. ‘If Leitrim is Covid-free then let it open. If Sligo is Covid-free, let it open,’ he said.
Kerry TD, Michael Healy-Rae said that counties that have done well in reducing the number of cases should be rewarded.
‘We have to look at regionalised implications of the shutdown – in other words, rewarding counties that are doing better than other parts of the country. But we have people who think if things are bad in Dublin that they have to be bad in the rest of the country,’ he said.
‘Why won’t they look at it countyby-county. It doesn’t make sense.’
Kerry restaurateur Paul Treyvaud said the coming months are going to be crucial for hospitality businesses in Kerry because businesses may not be able to survive if there is a delay in reopening.
‘We have to open as soon as possible because, come September, come October, Kerry goes back to being off-peak again and there’s no business. We can’t go through another winter like this.’