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Updated 12.37pm
INTEL HAVE CONFIRMED that gardaí received what they believed to be a “credible threat” to its plant in Leixlip this morning.
In a statement this afternoon, the firm said that the threat, made “shortly” after 6am, sparked a “coordinated response” from Intel and the gardaí, something a spokesperson described as “normal protocol”.
“A controlled evacuation of the site followed and a search was conducted by trained Intel security personnel throughout the campus with the buildings being declared safe just after 8.30am,” the statement continued.
Employees were thereafter allowed to return to work and normal activity has now resumed at the campus. Intel would like to thank the Gardaí for their support and the general public for their patience as the matter was dealt with.
Gardaí said an investigation into the events of the morning will now be launched.
Intel employs about 4,000 people at its Kildare operation
AA Roadwatch warned that traffic in the area was very heavy at the time, with no access to the facility.
Buses in the area were also diverted.
Evacuated workers gathered in nearby restaurants, while others try to make their way back home.
First published 7.33am
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Nanny state.
@Baldy Boo Bolingoli: unfortunately, it’s justified. Though I suspect the Gardaí will be shutting down very little.
@Liam Byrne: not justified, every time you open up a little bit more business you’ll get a spike. Clubs will be the big one not your local
@Baldy Boo Bolingoli: the screw tightens !
@Liam Byrne: not justified at all. The sooner the pubs open the sooner the house parties etc will reduce in number.
@JohnnyMc: more people in pubs than at house parties.
@Baldy Boo Bolingoli: Bet the bar in Dáil Éireann is open
@Joe Johnson: does anybody know if it is open? Does it serve grub etc?
@Joe Johnson: After the Hogan golf controversy, I doubt it.
@Baldy Boo Bolingoli: It’s bonkers. Results in current scenario of everyone clock watching for fear of going over allocated time by a few minutes in case they appear on Primetime. Great enjoyment for an evening out.
@Joe Johnson: its not
@Joe Johnson: wonder did they shut down the hotel in Galway yet ?
@Liam Byrne: Especially when any TD’s or European Comissioners or Judges are in attendance.
A pub can be closed down for NOT serving food?
Who ever came up with the idea that if you had food it would result in more social distancing and less chance of infection?
This is becoming a farce!
The rest of Europe has opened up, more places open would mean less crowds in one place, certainly in my locality that would be the case, as everyone is flicking to the one establishment which is abiding by current guidelines but has had a huge increase in footfall since opening in June.
@Martin: BYOB Bring your own burgers.
@Jambon Decapabanana: I have ordered home brew equipment to make cider from my orchard, looks like this will be it for the future,
@Martin: What a load of tosh. More places open would mean more crowds. Crap. It would just mean that more people would go out filling up the extra places that have opened. But I agree with you that serving food in pubs would result in more social distancing. So I assume you agree that all pubs, regardless of whether or not they serve food should be closed immediately.
@Joe Griffin: you assumed wrong!
more pubs open may mean more crowds in general, but more people in one location? Maybe not, if numbers are limited,
@Martin: they dont want pubs open, they simply dont want people to gather socially, for fear they may all realise they are being duped
they have every citizen now watching each other, not talking to each other
rubbing their hands in glee for sure
@Kavsie: not sure, it doesn’t make much sense, obviously schools are first priority but pubs open would mean plenty more revenue for them
@Martin: revenus is last thing on their mind
if the robust plan to open schools is so robust then why is the Dail shut
@Kavsie: fat cats up there do not care about anyone only themselves that is clear from last weeks antics
@Martin: it because they opened at restaurants with drink licence
As they complained about how restaurants were allowed to open n also serve drink
@Martin: That makes perfect sense..Reminds me of 2010 when they said that all clubs must cose at 3am and it became impossible to get a taxi home, city centre was an absolute mess, never seen so many fights since that rule came in
Ireland are one of the few countries in Europe where our Medical experts NPHET seem to be of Nobel prize quality, in that they seem to know something that no other county does. They seem to know better than thr medical guidance from WHO, the ECDC, the EU and EASA from the Aviation industry.
We are one of the few countries in Europe where bars are not open. I’m not a big bar person but you have to laugh when a €9 bowl of soup allows a premises to open and those that don’t serve it not to.
Even the most vigilant lockdown supporters must at this stage be questioning are we being taken for a bunch of eejits.
6 in ICU,
28/9 in hospital
600,000 on hospital waiting lists.
An economy that requires ICU attention.
@Paul Potts: do you know if the number of 28 in hospital includes those in ICU?
@Paul Potts: you have to laugh at pubs who can’t adapt their business to include a €9 bowl of soup to get them back up and running. Every other business has adapted. What makes pubs so different? Most countries in europe don’t have the same booze culture that we have here. Open the pubs here and it’ll be a like a queue on the opening day of Krispy Kreme. I think that’s the difference.
@GrumpyAulFella: Ireland places eighth on the list, with an average of 11.72 litres of pure alcohol consumed by our nation.
Here are the 15 countries that consume the most alcohol:on a world level doubt we make top. 20 lol
Belarus (17.32l)
Lithuania (12.65l)
Czech Republic (12.43l)
Croatia (12.18l)
Austria (12.04l)
Portugal (11.92l)
France (11.8l)
Ireland (11.72l)
Estonia (11.61
Hungary (11.51
Luxembourg (11.4l)
Germany (11.2l)
Russian Federation (11.05l)
Poland (10.92l)
@aidanshaw: Alcohol consumed and a pub culture aren’t the same thing. The difference is you can get plastered at home with a litre of vodka by yourself or go out to the pub for 5 or 6 pints and be surrounded by people you don’t even know. That’s a big difference when the virus is concerned
@aidanshaw: I would think that there’s a lot of home drinking in some of these countries, never heard much about the pubs in Belarus. I think if the pubs were allowed to open half them would be closed again within a month due to no business. I definitely think they should have a chance to open like every other business.
@Darren McEneaney: what pub culture pal.. The town i live had once over 50 bars, now under 15. 6 nights a week there empty. I dont know what people consume behind closed doors only what i see in pubs.. Tumbleweed.. Lol. This notion the irish pub being packed is well gone.
@Anne Marie Devlin: yes it does, plus, how many were admitted due to covid?, highly likely none!!
the testing will show every coronavirus, so a any patient with a cold or a flu will show it, and someone morbidly ill with the flu is added to covid deaths
look, this is the reality
March:
LOCKDOWN
in April, confirmed cases per day 559
confirmed in hospital 865
deaths per day 33
NO LOCKDOWn
August 120
24
<1
and we are on the verge of another lockdown according to Stephen Donnelly
beyond duped!!
@Darren McEneaney: there’s also a big difference where mental health is concerned
@Kavsie: surely your stats show that lockdown got this under control. People move not the virus. Cases are on the rise at the moment without the pubs and schools open. The figures are hardly going to get better when they do open.
@GrumpyAulFella: pubs will only open after schools re-open and may not open at all this year.
@Da_Dell: most pubs around me are open and local schools opened today. I think pubs will be open in a couple of weeks but probably under restricted hours initially.
@Anne Marie Devlin: been wondering the same
@Kavsie: Are you sure that’s the case? It was a genuine question as it was not clear whether those in ICU were counted separately or not. I doubt there was no one admitted for Covid, but it would be insightful to know how many tested positive after being admitted for something else.
@aidanshaw: on the nail
@aidanshaw: I’m moving to Lithuania a.s.a.p.
@aidanshaw: And had been gone for a long time.
@GrumpyAulFella: it’s not that simple just to include even a bowl of soup, health and safety regulations are pretty strict that’s why a lot of pubs don’t bother. The whole rule is beyond ridiculous!!!
What they are failing to mention is that these ‘cases’ were asymptomatic. They resulted in exactly 0 hospital admissions.
@S K: but don’t get them on the radio, don’t get anyone that recovered, only interview the people that suffered worst from it, to make sure everyone is scared, we have to get on with life, this virus is hear with us and that is it,
Back in March, the sole purpose of lockdown was to reduce the pressure on the hospitals to ensure the health service would not be over run, never to stop the virus because that’s impossible!
Now the agenda has changed to stopping every possible spread of the virus. The only way to do that is a mass cull, look at foot and mouth or swine flu in animals, that is the facts and the only possible way to stop the spread! Maybe someone should suggest that to NPHET!
@Martin: The agenda isnt now stopping every possible spread. It’s to minimise them, that’s why it’s not a total lockdown. The Government is greedy, they want your money, they want you working so they arent trying to keep people home or on welfare. They are trying to save lives. You might not agree with everything they are doing, I def dont, but it’s not a conspiracy.
@Martin: What’s your solution, Mouthin’? “Let the sick stay at home while the rest of us get on with it” I presume? What’s this “agenda” by the way? Ya sound like Trump.
@Lee Galiezitte: I never said it was a conspiracy or even think it is,
it’s a fact of life a virus can spread easily in any species that is overpopulated but the constant threat by the government and differing guidelines than the rest of Europe is what is getting at people.
@JusticeForJoe: Jesus Christ joe!
When I said agenda, I meant plan/motive or current reasoning behind the guidelines we have at the minute, try reading the comment a bit better and less name calling and picking buzz words, no one mentioned that clown trump only yourself
@JusticeForJoe: here’s my solution immortan joe.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3160900/
That is the only tried and proven effective way of controlling spread in a population,
If you don’t get the sarcasm I’ll explain it a bit better for you,
I don’t have a solution and clearly no one in the world does!
@Martin: yep, scare them, to death
just look at the headline photo on the times today… says it all really
@Kavsie: his is from the article itself.
“For a lesson in how complacency around coronavirus can have terrible consequences, one needs to look no further than Florida. The state reopened from lockdown in early June, when it was experiencing 2,000 cases a day but few deaths, as the disease was mostly confined to the young. Within a month, it was experiencing 15,000 cases and more than 250 deaths a day. It became an epicentre of the pandemic in the United States.”
@GrumpyAulFella: 21.48 million people in Florida,
deaths peaked at 278 per day is that just over 0.00129% of the population?
15k is 0.6%
@Martin: the point is the spike due to complacency and need for caution. Opening all pubs for a free for all at the same time as all schools reopen and flu season begins, doesn’t seem like a great idea. Meanwhile in the UK Boris is asking everyone to hop on trains and buses and head into the office so that Starbucks can get your sandwich a day custom back.
@GrumpyAulFella: I get you, there will always be spikes for the rest of the future unless a very good vaccine is produced,
Read this from our beloved RTÉ, says it all really
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0828/1161895-excess-mortality-figures/
@Martin: Don’t think you’ll get much traction with the mass cull idea though.
@Conall: nah, think it might be a bit harsh,
Was only making a point of how the same situation is handled in other species, and what works
@Lee Galiezitte: https://freedomplatform.tv/plandemic-indoctornation-world-premiere/
@Tony Bourke: yeah that link url looks mental so I’ll hold off on clicking.
They should open up the pubs and leave it up to the citizen to decide whether he/she wants to take the risk. This is getting farcical at this stage, scarcely any deaths and also the govt would love to have the gardai break into our homes to make sure we’re not enjoying ourselves
@Virgil: Bet your life the Dáil Éireann bar is open for TDs plus friends
@Virgil: exactly bars open in Spain but many Spanish still not going to them.
@Virgil: Control control and more control, we will have the Gestapo on the streets breaking down doors next.
NPHET are a medical Junta
@Derek Goulding: I think that’s a bit unfair. Their role is to provide advice. It’s the government you should blame if you are not happy with the laws/regulations/guidelines- not the doctors and scientists.
https://www.change.org/OpenThePubs
Please sign if you think the horrendous treatment towards pubs should end !
@Luke: would you give over! They should be shut until 2021
@Jonnie Marre: Would you give over
Go lock yourself inside until 2021 where no one has to hear you run down perfectly good people’s livelihoods in the interest of a virus which has only 4 people in ICU as we speak
@Luke: sell a sandwich and a bowl of soup for €9. Adapt like every other business has done. Job done.
@GrumpyAulFella: it shouldn’t have to be like that
@Luke: why not? We’re in the middle of a global health pandemic with a virus on the loose that has killed more than 23m people so far with no vaccine available. The old norm isn’t coming back any time soon. We have to adapt.
@GrumpyAulFella: 23 million…. You alright in the head lad??
@GrumpyAulFella: It has not killed 23m it’s infected 23m
What difference does serving a bowl of soup make ? If thats your idea of adaptation you’ve a long way to go
There no reason they cant open with strict protocols for a safe reopening
We need to protect jobs
@Luke: serving soup would have had all these pubs open legally a few weeks ago. A small change to get your business back open it seems to me.
@James Fenlon: ha no definitely not alright in the head. I meant infections there not deaths.
@GrumpyAulFella: I agree they should adapt but they shouldn’t have to
@Luke: if we didn’t ever adapt to changes we would still be living in houses of clay and wattles. Roaming around on horseback
@barry moore: oh come on that’s just not what I’m saying here
This is clearly a step backwards for society
Limiting social interaction is not a step forward
How do you think we came to be the most intelligent species on earth
@Luke: by adapting and overcoming. Just like what we are currently doing. adapting our lives so we can overcome the virus.
@GrumpyAulFella: Totally agree with you !
@Luke: I can’t believe people are still not grasping this …. it’s füćkîng very simple !!
@barry moore: How you come up with that one ?
@pomerleau: common sense. But its not that common.
@Luke: Why can’t Pubs get some sort of deal going with a local chip shop, pub makes the order and chip shop delivers to the pub, job done
Hurry up and make us the new North Korea where asking a question is fifty lashes and a feed of pints without chicken wings is a stoning to death. Sure we’re already about 70 percent there anyway. Though our government makes Kim Jong-un look intelligent.
The Canadian province of Ontario opened the pubs/bars a month ago and have no increase in Covid because the opening…and you don’t have to eat
@Don Getty: Denmark last week went from pubs closing at 11pm to 2am
@Kavsie: yeah but they close the doors at 11pm. People in the pub can stay there until 2am but nobody can enter. Their R rate was 1.4 a couple of weeks ago, higher than ours, so it will be interesting to see what happens there over the next couple of weeks.
@GrumpyAulFella: OMG! 1.4! PANIC! How many people ended up in hospital? Isn’t that the important thing, protecting health systems? Or has that changed?
@Monster Munch: protecting people I guess. If you don’t have a health system then you can’t protect the health and wellbeing of the people. Ain’t that so?
@GrumpyAulFella: Protecting people by destroying the economy and stopping cancer screening for months?
@Don Getty: That’s not true !!
Draconian, jesus this shambles of a government get worse and worse
At last night’s NPHET briefing, the team outlined a “significant number of outbreaks” – a total of 392 active outbreaks in the state currently being managed by public health officials. Of those, 252 were due to social gatherings in private houses.
whats a social gathering in a private house?
392 outbreaks, is that individuals, clusters, etc, if 252 were in homes then why not tell us where the other 140 werre?..
The government also wanted the gardaí to be given powers to interrupt and prevent house parties…what does this mean?, they wanted?, wanted from who?, they are the Gov after all?, so who did they want approval from?
they are slowly removing rights and giving more to the state….perfect for when they drive people on to the streets in anger
Ireland the new North Korea but in fairness Kim has a better personality the the three snakes in Dail Eireann.
@Dean Cinnsealach: Is your North Korean comparison based on actual experience?
There is absolutely no reason to keep the pubs closed. Considering the guards are already checking pubs/restaurants for compliance why can they not do the same for “wet” pubs now that they have powers to close offending premises.
I was all for keeping the pubs closed but it is gone beyond silly now. Open them, if it gets worse close them. Open them to sensible drinkers, Anyone caught drunk and disorderly can be issue hefty fines. Any pub in breach of not controlling social distancing shut them down. Simply as.
Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted comes to mind..!!!
So can we shut down Garda stations when they flout their own rules?
@Tom Goss: brilliant that’s exactly what we should be doing
Start with the Station House Hotel, Clifden, show a good example,
if the Gardai arrive at my house and there are 10 of us, would they walk away once they see our half eaten pizza delivery?
A lot of pubs open using outside catering nothing against law or guidelines concerning this. Yet the vintiners , especially in urban areas preach that they are staving , but will not adopt the use of outside catering. The fact they now want a restriction on Supermarkets and off licences to sell alcohol. Do the vintiners think they have a monopoly on the sale of alcohol. Hypocrisy.
@Donal Desmond: I think they’d like one.
It’s a disgrace pubs are not allowed open at this stage and for publicans to man their premises properly. It’s great to get out at the moment for a bit of food and a few pints but the social interaction is gone. An awful lot of people go out to meet people and socialise. Thats not there any more or for the time being anyway. This will mean alot wont stir and puts to bed the notion pubs will be packed.
What about meat factories???
@seamus toomey: 19 workplace outbreaks in the last 16 days. They should really give case numbers here as well as we’d soon see they account for a high percentage of the cases in August. Meat factories & food and vegetable
@Isabel Oliveira: cases today in Monaghan,Offaly, Tipperary, Roscommon associated with them.
Load of Codswallop
So … of these 252 outbreaks in most social gatherings means : cohabiting. Colour me shocked.
( in the last 16 days there were 120 outbreaks in private houses – mostly coming from cohabiting I dare say- the others are cases that are still active from the past).
As for the pubs / restaurant he mentions as an outbreak he should mention that clusters in pubs, retail, supermarkets, chemists : there was only a total of 20 clusters in the last 16 days.
The number he gives for restaurant is rather high which is unusual , I do wonder is it a hotel and is it the staff who are infected or an event party? Unusual and more specifics would be useful.
There are also 93 healthcare staff infected on this period of time so maybe the proper procedures are not yet put in place to avoid it.
@Isabel Oliveira: as for Garda powers to close pubs : draconian and I sincerely hope this doesn’t give way to all types of abuse .
And a question for NPHET & the government , if they’re so very worried and considering the time we have them to prepare , how has the number of critical beds decreased from 500 in April to 427 now?
What s complete F-UP of a country.
Thank god I moved away from Ireland in the last month. In the Middle East where distancing, masks, sanitising etc are taken very seriously but pubs, clubs, tourist attractions, sport are all sensibly opened up. Cases ~200 a day and hardly any deaths. No big noise about it in the media. It was miserable at home.
@Pedro: are there fans at soccer games in the ME?
They want everyone to stay inside and never go outside again. Talking about kicking the can down the road. This virus is not going away and we need to learn to live with it. Shutting down everytime there is a smell of the virus wont work. They shut down for 2 weeks and hope it will go away. Learn to deal with it properly. I can guarantee you, no garda will enter my home and tell me i have one too many visitors. FFS what have we become
@Paul Dolan: they won’t get into my house either, absolutely appalling, North Korea we are becoming!
So the Covid 19 virus can tell the difference if your having a pint with a sambo or just having a pint ?
Why bother will these regulations for wet pubs as they call them. Give it another month there won’t be any “wet pubs” left to police which I believe is the gov main objective to rid the country of the drinking culture. If they were serious about sorting it out and stopping the illegal gathering and house parties close all the off licences and stop supermarkets selling alcohol for 2 months. Then open the pubs at least then all the drinking is policed its tgat simple
@Michael Fleming: Why on earth would they want to get rid of the “drinking culture” by shutting all pubs? People drinking less is good public health idea, but that’s going a bit far. If politicians hate drinking so much, why would they have a Dáil bar?
I have no issue with this once its proven and not based on anecdotal curtain twitching gossip. But this should also apply to all businesses that are allowed to open, and not just pubs. The narrative been spun is that its all down to pubs and house parties which is disingenuous at best, especially when Glynn is quoted in same article saying “having clusters in households in an entirely normal part of dealing with an infectious disease”
@Da_Dell: I’m not so sure. People have to live in households, there’s no choice, you can say with great certainty that you are going to be in your house for xx% of days per year xx hours per day on average. Unless you’re George Best you probably can’t be similarly accurate about the amount of time you can spend in a boozer. The threat of pubs shouldn’t have be backed up with stats although I’m sure that this will come post open up. There aren’t that many other businesses where people congregate together for hours, with complete strangers, get locked, all share the same toilet and wear the face off each other. It’s a virus’ dream.
2500€ fine or and 6 months in jail.A JOKE.What about a fine or even 6 months for the Clifden 81
This is like the days of the Taliban. Now being led by Mullah Ronan Glynn.
@SandraMeyler: ha ha ha very good.
I’m in a small but popular bar in Italy that doesn’t serve food and has been open for the last 2 months. Masks if you leave your table. Outdoor serving area if you want. Only 2 seats per table. Not a hint of covid here. Shaking hands, hugging and kissing to greet people is a thing of the past. Staff constantly wear a mask. Seems to be going just fine. Every cafe and bar nearby has the same procedures. People are perfectly OK with the masks and out of courtesy, put them on a soon as a conversation starts and you aren’t drinking.
Restrict the numbers that can attend golf club functions to 81..sure what’s the worst that can happen..?
Ello Ello Ello what’s going on ere then….
Seems to be an intense focus on pubs in comparison to others in retail & service sectors. 2m distancing, restrictions on time allowed, closing times, no standing, food consumption rules. I understand the want to restrict crowding & mingling but seems other retailers (shops, centres, garden centres, etc) aren’t policed with same scrutiny where people mingle in aisles without 2m restrictions except for at tills.
The targeting is assisted by RTE sending their cameras into dublin pubs a few wks ago to try & catch them out yet not in eg meat factories nor building sites,where there’s a covid issue.
Seems to be an easy sector to target where blame shouldn’t really lie. Maybe focus of pubs deflects attention from those in authority that may have mishandled parts of covid suppression attempts.
Remember the time our so called Irish experts dished out iodine tabs for everyone in the country.
Iodine tablets might be in the post for everyone next week!
Contact, contact, contact. Reduce contact to a minimum. That is the only way to reverse out covid19 cases. What are we doing to reduce contact. People need to avoid meeting other people. Be a patriot by avoiding people contact as much as possible. Obey the 2 metre rule and wear a mask. All of the reopening plans increased people contacts. Now schools are opening which equals a lot more people contacts. I only see it going one way until we start reducing people contact again.
@Imagine !: If we keep going as we are we will have 600 new daily cases reported by the end of September.
Pubs should open and close early, simple.
Social spacing in place, contact tracing.
This food thing is just daft.
Excellent
Lockdowns are partly in effect now when it comes to pubs.
Well I’m in create and bar have to be clear @ 12PM sharp! If not closed for 3 days and a €10,000 fine and 3 weeks to pay also staff on duty fined between €150./500. 3 weeks to pay! Now that’s a fine and a half! So pubs in Ireland have it cosy get shut for one day and make it back the next! The fine is pittance
Give the local chief super power to suspend the licences of all pubs in his district who weren’t food serving before Covid. Then when the greedy do try to open through the back door as they are right now, they commit a criminal offence and are dealt with in the courts. As they are convicted they become unfit presons to hold such a licence.
@Niall Sheridan: I recently watched a Garda Sgt enter a pub that serves food and try and dictate to the owner who was trying to keep within the rules as he understood them..the same Garda had to walk from Store St. past many many people openly dealing drugs which is also a huge public health issue ..the point is that pubs seem to be the whipping boy at the moment and it’s become a national sport in how who can cry the loudest CLOSE THE PUBS..CLOSE THE RESTURANTS..CLOSE THE HOTELS..CLOSE THE GOLF CLUBS ..CLOSE THE DAIL (OOPS IT’S CLOSED ALREADY)
Excellent
Remember A plate of chips with your pint keeps the covid away
Excellent
What about the drug partys
Well said
Never heard the term “wet pubs” until now but if they were given half a chance, they would prove their ability to adapt and put the proper controls in place to allow for acceptable social interaction within the NEPHT guidelines. Opening all pubs (IMHO) would improve social distancing and reduce the appetite for house parties. But it seems that the strategy of keeping wet pubs closed is encouraging larger numbers into fewer venues – bad for social distancing !! But big Phil is gone …. so who de phuk cares …. we got our man !!! Cheeses !!
Give the pubs the same rules as Scotland,ish.
A number of “wet pubs” have already opened offering burgers and chips from a nearby chipper.
have your say