Before The Big Vote - Covid Restrictions: Ireland vs the World

Around the world, draconian Covid restrictions are being lifted everywhere, and in many places mask mandates have long been dropped… yet Irish politicians may vote tomorrow to extend the Covid state of emergency laws, and give unprecedented power to Ireland’s minister for health Stephen Donnelly & the State security services. So what makes Ireland so special when it comes to removing our personal freedoms on the basis of NPHET’s pseudoscience?

As reported by the Daily Mail two days ago, 135,000 people attended the famous Indy 500 motor race, and there wasn’t a mask in sight. There are seven million people living in Indianapolis, and their state government says only 2.5 million people have been vaccinated. So it wasn’t vaccines that made the state of Indiana see sense – it was the real science about Covid.

Here’s Twickenham in London two weeks ago where Montpellier travelled from France to London, to lift the European Challenge cup. Ten thousand fans have been allowed into all rugby games in England for three weeks now – here are some stills from the match – hardly a mask in sight as you can see.

Outside of sports, it’s useful to compare Little old Ireland to some American States. As per NBC news, As far back as March 11th seven US states, most with bigger economies than Ireland - Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Iowa, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana - completely dropped all Covid restrictions - like mask mandates and indoor capacity caps. Many more US states have since joined that list, including Florida.

Let’s drill down on Florida – 2.5 times the size of Ireland, with a population of 22 million, and a GDP of 960 billion in 2019 versus Ireland’s 398. Given the comparison it’s fair to say that Florida has a capable government and public administration system with far more inputs and moving parts to manage compared to Ireland. They also have a fairly capable scientific community – big tech and finance are flocking to Florida, and organisations like NASA seem to rate them quite highly.

Here’s the governor of Florida Ron Desantis three weeks ago on May 3rd (the guy managing a population five times bigger than Stephen Donnelly is, and an economy three times bigger than Micheal Martin is) announcing the lifting of restrictions in his own words:

Tomorrow Irish politicians will vote on the destruction of our democracy and constitutional rights as free people. How in good conscience can they vote to give a failed management consultant and a police force mired in corruption scandals unprecedented power over our liberty. A yes vote would eerily mirror the enabling act that kicked off Nazi Germany. A no vote would be the first step to allowing our people to breath free once again from tyranny and oppression.