Society is ready to snap with no end to lockdown in sight
AYEAR into the pandemic and the public mood has turned to one of revolt. To quote Arthur Fleck from Joker, the last movie I saw before the cinemas shut: “Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” Like the Joker, I now feel mad enough to laugh maniacally on public transport to the soundtrack of Gary Glitter’s Rock n’ Roll Part II.
We’re the most locked-down country in Europe, with no sign of reprieve. “The end is truly in sight,” the Taoiseach said in his national address on Tuesday, but the Government’s roadmap gave no indication of when that end date would be.
Meanwhile, the Brits have one-third of the place vaccinated and are getting set for a ‘summer of freedoms’ with all restrictions lifted by June 21.
They’ll be back having pints in beer gardens in April and going to concerts in May. Such promises of reward give people the strength to carry on. It’s crucial for those whose livelihoods depend on it.
Is it any wonder patches of civil disobedience have started to break out here? Pulled too far, for too long, the elastic has snapped. Who could blame those who have been on the sharp end of this for 12 months, fighting for survival?
This week marked a shift in attitude, as sufferance turned to rebellion. Covid fatigue has given way to virus defiance, frustration to anger. A calendar year has gone by since the date the first case was detected here, on February 29, 2020. Now many feel enough is enough.
Kerry restaurateur Paul Treyvaud said he would open his restaurant in Kenmare on July 1, regardless of restrictions. His view is reasonable: it’s not safe to open now, but it should be by then. He’s prepared to go to prison if necessary. He tweeted: “I am giving the Government four and a half months. If they can’t organise the country by then, they are clearly not capable of running it.”
A man and a woman were charged on Wednesday following the reopening of a beauty salon in Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Pubs which have thus far respected the Taoiseach’s advice to “forget about takeaway pints” started breaching that recommendation.
Kavanagh’s on Dublin’s Clanbrassil Street said they had to keep afloat: “Businesses like ours are going to the wall. We have always been compliant and mindful of public health advice but after a full year of little or no trade, it’s evident that we’re not ‘all in this together’. We will no longer be going along with the Taoiseach’s orders.”
Not so long ago, such behaviour would have been roundly condemned. Now, it has received significant public support. It is a form of political protest. Most of us acknowledge that some groups in society have shouldered this burden more than others and have reached breaking point. What is happening is – on paper – in contravention of Article 23.1 of the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights, the Right to Work.
Furthermore, two polls this week suggested a collapse of public buy-in; one found strong support for reopening the economy as soon as possible, and another found a slump in confidence for the Government’s management of the pandemic.
We have all been asked too much of, for the pyrrhic victory of beating a pandemic. It’s no surprise there’s a pushback, with Ireland consistently locking down earlier, longer and harder than anywhere else.
A study by the University of Oxford last week showed Ireland is ranked number one in the list of the most locked-down countries in Europe. We also top the league of days of workplaces closed, at 167. Other countries are managing without having to shut everything down for interminable months and trap citizens in a 5km force field.
In Switzerland, restrictions include having a maximum of five visitors to your household. In Austria, hair salons are open, in Poland, shopping malls. In Finland, Estonia and parts of Spain, restaurants are open with a percentage capacity and early closing. We are European outliers, not that you’d necessarily know it, seeing as we’re trapped on the island.
The most unnerving move so far, from a basic civil liberties perspective, is the suspension of processing “routine applications” for passports. I found myself filling up my petrol tank the other day, figuring: who knows, they might limit that next.
The Irish Human Rights and
Equality Commission has said there is a “black hole” for considering the impact of restrictions on human rights. The watchdog noted this week that Nphet was the “de facto decision makers” but important decisions should be made by democratically accountable actors.
Society is in a state of chaos. Disturbing crime patterns have emerged. Children are suffering. Extended school closures were the last straw for those who perhaps previously had enjoyed some novelty of working from home and saving money while doing it. People are at theendoftheirrope.
Dr Martin Feeley was dismissed as irresponsible last October when he said: “Unless someone does something, maybe we’re looking at anarchy.” Is it time we listened now?
Ireland is ranked number one in the list of the most lockeddown countries in Europe