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LAST UPDATE | 6 Jan 2021
CLICK AND COLLECT services for non-essential retailers have been temporarily banned under the government’s latest Covid-19 restrictions, it has been confirmed this afternoon.
Under current restrictions, all non-essential retail services have had to close. However, until now, such businesses have been permitted to offer click and collect services for customers.
The decision to ban click and collect services comes following a Cabinet meeting this afternoon.
Under the new rules, which are effective immediately, existing orders can still be collected. Click and deliver will continue to be allowed.
Addressing reporters this evening, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar gave a stark warning to business owners.
He said: “If I was running a business right now I’d be considering the possibility that I’d be closed until the end of March.”
Speaking today, Duncan Graham of Retail Excellence said that while the industry fully acknowledged that further restrictions were necessary, it was another setback.
He said: “Non-essential retailers closed their doors on New Year’s Eve and have fully complied with what has been asked of them by the Government. It is clear that the country is facing an enormous challenge and, of course, we acknowledge that the Government must act to halt the spread of Covid-19, but there is little public health risk in allowing customers collect goods from non-essential retailers who remain shuttered because of the lockdown.
“We feel this move, however well-intentioned to restrict people’s movement, will have a disproportionately negative effect on smaller retailers.”
With reporting by Garreth MacNamee
We are living in the moany age. Would everyone stop being moany and just get on with it. Sorry if this is offensive to the moany people.
@soft likeawall: a advert that shows a lad being piggy backed by his mam and his girlfriend is never going to address the road death issue,it’s a complete waste of money ,worse advert in years
@sean weir: disagree
@MegaLlong: Explain your point then, master(de)bator.
@sean weir: i havent seen fhe add,
@MegaLlong: why?
Have you watched it?
It makes the Rose of Tralee look like a science documentary
@soft likeawall: when you or a loved one is disabled and have to rely on others to bring them to places an able-bodied person can drive themselves to at their own will, without a thought, fully independent, then you come back and read the complaint. Come back and read your comment telling you,then disabled, to stop moaning. Please stop. People with disabilities didn’t ask for them, they only ask for a little help when our transport system doesn’t fully consider their needs when planning anything. RSA should not be equating helping a person with their mobility as being a burden! Shame on all you who liked this horrible insensitive comment.
If a driver with a disability causes an accident due to driving recklessly,without due care and attention,or in any other manner that would result in a ban for an able bodied person,they too should lose their licence. Having a disability does not give you the right to escape a fine or other punishment. If they become a burden on others to be transported around,it shows that the same laws apply to every road user equally.
@Larry Betts: have you watched the advert,it’s brutal
@sean weir: No,Sean I hadn’t. Just watched it. Absolutely ridiculous,although I can’t fathom why disability groups could or should be offended. RSA making a mockery of responsibility that drivers,and all road users,should be taking.
@Larry Betts: Some groups of individuals make a career out of being offended or discriminated against. They become professional victims.
I’m not sure if many people saw the add. I saw it twice now and can’t see any issues with it. Nowadays in all aspects of life a few who speak loudest have to much influence. It is a good add aimed at young men. I, a man of average intelligence(my opinion), only saw the add showing the need of someone needing a lift as they lost their licence in a rural area. A targeted add I would say ?
@finbarr walsh: a lad getting a piggy back from his mam,its a completely stupid ad thar does nothing to address road deaths
@sean weir: asking young men not to drink/drug drive or speed hasn’t worked. Maybe the message of needing your car in rural areas were you don’t have any alternative might. It’s worth a go
@finbarr walsh: it’s paddywhackery at its worst
@finbarr walsh: Apparently that’s what , when asked, young drivers feared most about loosing their licence; loosing their independence!
Hopefully the 3 complaints went straight into the recycling bin
Its a humorous ad, and at least its different to the would you might putting on your seatbelt ad.
People are dying on our roads and if it saves a few lives, won’t it be worth it
@denis silver: “Its a humorous ad,”
It’s NOT a humorous subject!
@sean weir: you can laugh at everything, and this is a funny subject.
@Alex: road deaths are funny ????
Something wrong in your head
@sean weir: Everything can be made to laugh at, even dead people. What’s wrong with that?
I think the ad is fairly targeted actually and don’t see an issue with it. It delivers the message intended. We have become very good at complaining about everything. Driver behaviour causes over 90% of accidents and male drivers are most likely to have those accidents. Anything that targets that cohort is welcome..just my opinion. I struggled to see a connection with disabled people being slighted to be honest.
@Toca Stories: I think it’s the idea the ad is putting across that not being able to drive, and needing someone else to drive you, is a terrible thing, and that if you need someone else to drive you it means that you’re a burden.
@mani mus: fair enough but the difference will be that it will be by making a conscious decision to drink drive as opposed to being disabled and not physically being able to. I don’t see a link that could cause offence if I am honest.
@Toca Stories: the link they made, this national body, this official arm of the state, is between being reliant on others to drive and being a burden. They weren’t thinking about people with disabilities, obviously. But the point being made by the complaints is kind of that they should have. Because if you spend two seconds imagining what it must feel like always having to ask someone else to drive you around, every single time you need to drive somewhere, it’s not hard to imagine how you could start to feel, deep down, like a burden. No matter how much the person doing the driving says they don’t mind. And here’s the RSA going “yeah, you’re a burden”. And really it’s their job to be better than that.
@Toca Stories: Good to see someone sharing that statistic. everyone thinks the roads layout is the problem and that is just 5% with vehicle problem being the other 5%. People are the problem.
@Toca Stories: While I agree, advertising is proven to sell a product more, has it worked to reduce road deaths? (given the government have done nothing in the transport space in 2 decades)… no so sure. Costs millions, keeps us talking.. job done.
@Toca Stories: it’s a lad getting a piggy back from his mam FFS !!!
@Toca Stories: then spend the money on fixed cameras that actually reduce bad driving instead of this rubbish.
@mani mus: Exactly, ending in that situation through your own actions!
There are number of issues with public service advertising … there is the radio ad that is of an autopsy that is supposedly a State Pathologist proclaiming “cause of death – Drink Driving
The advert with the two gards sitting there speaking to a young man in what looks like his living room where he is telling his side of a story .. while the male Garda is sitting there holding a set of hand cuffs ….
All well intentioned but completely wrong
@PAUL C: Lazy isn’t it?
I’m stunned at the number of different groups trying to shoehorn themselves into the conversation about this ad.
Its a little counter intuitive to imply you need a car to be independent while also pushing us to move away from a car-centric lifestyle.
@Jimmy Savage: It’s not suggesting you need a car to be independent. It simply states that if you do drive and you lose your license you lose that independence. Simple as that!
@Tezmond McVicar: You don’t tho. you lose access. you still ‘have’ your independence… Not like there’s a jail term! Transport deserves more than innuendo and suggestive marketing. They wont do it tho, never have never will.
The message of the advert is very clear. It is clearly not referring to the mobility impaired.
@Jason Walsh: you don’t think people with impaired mobility are reliant on others to drive then?
@Jason Walsh: so a lad getting a piggyback from his mam and girlfriend is
not referring to the mobility impaired???
Really ??
Ridiculous racket are the rsa and their points. A bane for drivers.
@Sean Money: you do know how not to get points, yeah?
@Dermot Blaine: everyone knows it is not possible to adhere to the very low limits all of the time. Money making racket it is.
@Sean Money: Of course it’s possible to adhere to speed limits at all times.. the fact you and your itchy foot doesn’t want to is an entirely different matter. Stop moaning.. obey the rules of the road or get public transport or a bicycle for yourself.
@Brian: sure I could break the limits on a bicycle they are that low
@Sean Money: never had points taken. And I don’t drive the speed limit. There is literally 0 control in Ireland, you can speed where and however you want.
@Alex: it is getting better with less gards wasted on the roads but the feckers still have me for points and fines
@Sean Money: Off ya go then
.. Chances are if you do and are involved in an accident then the only one you’ll hurt/seriously injure / kill is yourself. No offence but I’ll take that over you thinking your Colin McRae(prob showing my age there) and smashing into me and my family.
@Brian: Brian I have no desire to crash into you and your family. I am not a mujahadeen jihadist. It is possible to drive a good car at speeds and not crash. Sure the last thing I want is to damage my car so.
@Sean Money: of course it’s possible, you are the only person responsible for the speed at which you drive your vehicle, whether you agree with the limit or not is another matter
@Sean Money: Don’t forget your helmet an hi-vis vest.. There’s a good lad
@Jo H: Last time we checked there was almost no death on motorway. I always drive between 130 to 160 on the motorway when lane hoggers aren’t stuck in the right lane. Never had an accident and I drive thousands of miles outside of Ireland.
The issue isn’t the motorway it’s the turds who think they are doing a rally on small roads and eventually killing themselves in the process. Have seen plenty of young people driving on the wrong side of the road at high speed thinking they are the next Senna.
Is the ad stupid? Possibly. It is, however, creating conversation, which is the point of an advert I guess.
Is the advert offensive? Only to people who are offended at every possible opportunity. Seriously, get a grip.
Three complaints????
I have a mild form of cerebral palsy resulting in some minor issues with hand/eye co-ordination. I decided to stop learning to drive as I felt that it would be especially dangerous for me because of this. Following a stroke I have now been declared medically unfit to drive. I resent being considered a burden because I don’t drive a car.
Defund the NGO industry
Bla-bla-bla la.
@Alex: i’m 42 years old and I’ve been blind for less than five years. I’ve listened to this ad and thought it was quite funny. People are being ridiculous calling things ablest and all these new labels that mean nothing. It is a burden to lose the privileged to drive a car and it is a privileged drive a car, but there was without the privilege
@Michael L: I think thats what they’re saying. (would agree)
A glorious success for the advertisers, no doubt they have all the stats they need to justify next years multi million Euro budget… money that should be spent actually ON roads (the irony), fix the roads, make them wider, restrict access for some, remove as much freight and commercial transport as possible during peak times, bla bla bla there are a thousand potential ideas… yet still we are whipped up into a shouting match. Ridiculous. easier job when you dont have to do anything I suppose
Irish Media newsflash “Thousands of doctors could go to jail because they said some of their patients are not well”.
Click, stay tuned in after the adds, story on inside page. Click, stay tuned in after the adds, story on inside page. Click, stay tuned in after the adds, story on inside page.
The ASA is not fit for pupose.
A bit of a clumsy add with good intentions but has to throw open the doors for all sorts of outrage merchants to complain because they want attention for themselves. Sometimes it’s best to just let something go and not get too worked up by it because there will always be someone offended by something.
have your say