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NEW FIGURES SHOW that the number of Covid 19 outbreaks in schools rose significantly last week at 15, compared to three the previous week.
Eighty cases linked with those outbreaks were recorded in the week to the 16 of October, according to the latest report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
However the week before (3 to 9 October) saw just 15 confirmed cases linked with those three outbreaks.
The report comes a day after the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan warned of a “concerning” rise in cases, along with hospital and ICU admissions.
Six of last week’s outbreaks came from a primary school, seven from a special education school, one from a post-primary and one more from a “non specified” educational setting.
Five came from the HSE Mid West area, three from the North West, two from both the South and Midlands, with one each from the East, West and North East.
Meanwhile, there were 10 outbreaks at childcare facilities last week.
Outbreak Patterns
Last week’s figure is still down significantly on the end of last month.
Data recorded on the week ending September 25 saw 49 new outbreaks with 304 confirmed cases linked.
That fell sharply at the beginning of October, coinciding with the cutting of contact tracing from schools.
Last week’s school-based case number is likely to include some of the 34 confirmed at a school in County Wexford, which closed to in-person teaching but re-opened yesterday.
Other settings
Elsewhere, 34 breakouts were recorded in workplace settings, with 120 confirmed cases.
Last week also saw 10 outbreaks in disability centres.
Meanwhile, there were 10 outbreaks at childcare facilities last week.
In total last week, 199 outbreaks or clusters were recorded across the country.
They give planning permission for big retail parks on the outskirts of town with big free car parks, then the town councils slap paid parking on every available space in the town.
The Retail park owners then go tooth and nail to replicate every business in the locality in the retail park and close the town down..
This is the problem… There was no need for the retail park in the first place!
So who’s to blame here??
Planner and Government… Backing mates.. Same shit different day.. Little guy screwed as hard as possible.
Ok, no need for the retail park no? So why do people go to them rather than go into town if there is no need for them. Demand means there is a need lad, do a bit if research please? Good lad.
Sorry i dont tend to converse with people who use “Lad twice in the same sentence”
Are you aware you spelled sense incorrectly “Talkingsence”
In Enniscorthy town the independent retailers blocked Tesco coming to the outskirts of the town. The town is still in a shambles and you can’t even get an iTunes card in it but at least we support out own shops that we can’t buy what we want in! Resistance to progress is futile as most just go to Tesco in Wexford or Gorey or New Ross or…..
Exactly Ross, people can’t see behind the tabloid headline… Mostly because they are tabloid readers…the pity’s
Almost all of Wexford town in working in tesco at this stage.
The little guys don’t get the same tax breaks as the multi-nationals at retail.
Consider what their resources are compared to Aldi, Lidil, Tesco.
We need to support family retailers whenever possible.
ALSO:
We need legislation that will require a declaration of the country of origin on retail items, so we don’t have German and British companies acting as a conduit for cheap Chinese goods dumped in the Irish marketplace while the goods are labelled as coming from EU countries.
What tax breaks do multinationals get? I am not aware of any
Are you mixing up with IDA funding?
Sorry, I’m lost as well Seamus, please explain the Tax break comment? Best to state the actual tax break they get, rather than going off on a tangent. It’s just so that we will be able to see if you are talking throu your hole or not.. Simple.
He doesn’t need to state them, everyone knows they get massive tax breaks except for you two.
Sorry if you know them then spell them out? If you can’t then you are a spoofer…simple. Is it that hard to tell the truth??
Talking sence, you obviously didnt read the comments.
“EVERYONE knows”
Show me the fact lad if everyone knows you spoof
Well for a start Tesco have the option of offsetting corporation tax against outsourced purchases… since they bring almost EVERYTHING into the country from outside themselves and can essentially pay another business which they own for those goods their contributions in corporation tax would be practically zero… and that IS the case.
Next they don’t pay their staff very well, so the disposable income in the locality they are based is quiet low. Min wage in many cases.
This means that they and other non-independent retailers of course increase their own sales as they are generally cheaper. This is a race to the bottom…lower wages= less disposable income, in turn this leads to folks needing to buy at a lower price which forces out independant retailers and increases the stranglehold of the multinationals… its a rather well establish monetary and economic circle to be honest. You can download any number of studies on how long ity takes in a given area of X income for the general wage levels to be decreased. Its not in any way ‘in question’ or ‘opinion’ its an established reality since the 1960′s
Also the independant retailer really can’t afford a large team of accountants to crawl their accounts and offset all sorts of things. Plus Tesco are not earning money to feed their family….
Added to that if the independant retailer gives his business to his family or they inherit it while they die, they have to literally fork out 33% of the value of the business after the threshold in inheritance tax, which will close them down basically. There are very few family businesses that could survive a bill arriving in the door for 33% of the value of the business including all of its assets. In fact that one law will absolutely destroy all independant retailers lasting more than the current generation full stop.
All of this is pretty well known to be honest… why would you raise it as questions?
I wish Tesco never existed, I hate the shop and the rude staff.
Then don’t go there.
But you probably go to tesco anyway!!!
I don’t!
Maybe he has no choice!
Every little helps….
Curious as to why you think I’m a “he”?
I do like the prices though so..
Well he’s at least two thirds right!
Not all tesco staff are rude.
I was in Greece (Chania) last week and at the time I noticed how “all” the shops were small local independent family outfits, so much more interesting going down a street when it ain’t the usual voda tesco o2 spar etc. It was a throw back to years ago but an eye opener as to how generic our lives are.
I’m sure everyone loves the idea of the higher cost of living that goes along with such independent shops..
We had 15-20 small family owned shops in our village. Ten years later we have 2 family owned shop, a centra and a co-operative. And 2 betting shops!
We even had a pub where you could buy groceries. You could have a pint of guinness while the old lady attended to the ‘list’.. Each of these family owned shops were unique and had a personality all of its own.
I know some of the shops had to close because the inheritance tax was huge.
I dont think they get a lot of breaks from the government and its important the locals give support too. Its hard to compete with the Lidl/Aldi prices. But they still have a lot to offer in terms of convenience and its sad to see them go
But is it really a higher cost?
Surely an efficient local market is more cost effective than a large scale distribution network?
I mean, you wouldn’t buy milk and eggs from Amazon, and the cost of driving to Tesco or Dunnes to purchase Northern Irish Milk doesn’t make much sense to me.
Imagine having a can of Guinness while a tesco staff member attends to your shopping list
Oh yeah but there’s only a small number of goods that can be produced locally.. Small independent shops will be equal to large supermarkets there, but on everything else the price is considerably cheaper in a tesco/aldi/lidl
And the consumer has costs associated with getting to Tesco etc. – that was my point.
Up to last week I’d have agreed with you, but walk up Grafton St today and its the same as main St Warrington, compare Grafton St 25 yes ago to today its actually sad. I,m now willing to pay a few bob more to support a local guy before spar own the country.
Of course they’re a dying breed. The government has no interest in small companies employing 1-10 people.
When the majority of them go belly up this government will care because the effects will be enormous.
Don Juan that is a ridiculous statement. Our government knows how important small business is to this country. The numbers employed now and previously employed in the sector make it clear to even them. The small exporters have been championed over the last few years. Government needs to do more for small business but they also dont want to step on the toes of multinationals who bring jobs into our economy. That’s the dilemma.
Ok, so the majority of companies are going to belly up yeah? Do you have facts for that please? Or, are you talking through your hole? Please supply your facts. Good lad.
Dont respond to this moron, he is the type who feels the need to set up a fake twitter account to comment only on the journal..
Empty Vessels!!
Clown!
Dave,
He’s an FG PR troll, probably paid by the word.
Ye are putting statements up on this that ye cannot seem to back up- why is that? Do ye not believe them yerseleves or wat? That’s kinda silly isn’t it??? And Paul, why do you call me a FG pr man? I am in IT, I work for a private company, and have no affiliation to ANY party including FG..so stop making stuff up please, it makes you look like a tulip…
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…
Yeah, if it does then ye should have no bother with fact…where is it tulip?
And they say it’s about job creation but it’s been proven that for every Mc job created by a retailer like Tesco – at least 3 jobs are lost elsewhere. It’s quite incredible that Ireland followed blindly in the wake of the US and the UK – when the damage these out of town retailers cause had been long established. Ireland had a chance to do things differently – but of course it didn’t bother.
Yes but people spend less of their disposable income in these McStores, so allowing them to spend it on what they like. Improving our quality of life because we have more to spend on interests and not just on food etc.. Overall it is better..
Not true: the produce in these McStores are of inferior quality lacking the vitamins and nutrition that are in the produce found in the produce in the independent shops and, I’m not referring to organic produce. Plus the air miles attached to the produce in McStores is ridiculous!
Here in Melbourne the majority of shops in the suburbs are independently owned. So much nicer and the level of service is better. I always feel better going to a local store. It’s something we do really badly in Ireland. I think the retailers have to move with the times too though, a lot of them in Dublin are very outdated so young people are skeptical of them.
And u pay well over the odds. I found Melbourne really expensive. Cost of living in Oz unreal.
Wouldn’t agree with that. If you account for the fact that wages are higher and less taxes it works out around the same as home. In fact my rent here 10 mins from the city is slightly cheaper than what I paid in Rathmines when converted. Can see how a tourist would find it expensive though.
I would not have said Melbourne was more expensive than Dublin, rent certainly wasn’t higher nor were my shopping bills plus the public transport was much better value
Could we look at independents outside of Dublin – less job creation outside the city, a struggle for them to survive.
The main problem is that families who would like to support local businesses simply can’t afford to, either through losing jobs or high mortgage costs. We are effectively being forced to shop at the bigger stores.
The sad thing is the supermarkets are conditioning people to eat substandard food , their prices may seem to be lower but they can do that ie pumping chickens and meat with water .
A lot of people are time and money poor. Many years ago when one half of the family wouldn’t be working, the mother was able to go into town and browse around different shops to get the weekly shop – butcher’s, supermarket, veg shop, deli, etc. It is easier now to go to one of the multiples and get your complete weekly shop done in one go in under an hour.
However, there are independent shops out there who are doing very well. If they are offering a very good product people will spend their money there.
But… If you buy your meat from the “Super Market” you are slowly killing your family.
Disagree, ever compare taste of a tomato in tesco/aldi to a tomato in an independent veg shop. We as consumers are ridding our taste pallets from proper tastes and settling for tasteless artificially grown produce. Plus tesco screw the farmers and are known to return carrots that have the slight imperfection on them, sometimes half a tonne of a tonne load is dumped just for being aesthetically imperfect.
Actually most people , working or not, have much more disposable time on their hands. They just choose to use it differently . The yummy mummy or daddy is just wasting time chauffeuring precious to the next class instead of making time to research cook and shop fir proper meals while precious plays in the garden !
The mafiosa style weekly collections by local authorities have got to go.
Businesses used to have services like waste, water, etc, included in their commercial rates – now everything is privatised – they pay seperately for waste, water etc – but still have to pay commercial rates.
Essentially, local authorities demand payment for services that they do not provide – reminds me of the movie Godfellas
Like everything else in Ireland the causes are a few factors combined…like every other contributor here I can only speak from personal experience and observation. Price and convenience motivate me – as to where I spend my money – independent retailer or multiple – show me the price – that is all I care about. Why? that is because it is all I can afford to care about. right now. I will worry about higher welfare chickens and eggs etc when I pay less tax. I know independent trader/retailers face many challenges but look at Cork City…parking is 2 euro for on street parking – you have to go to a newsagent/Centra etc which is a search in itself not to mind a parking spot and buy a disc (in 2014!!!) scratch the date and time on it…get all your stuff done in 2 hours rush back to your car and MOVE your car to another spot for another 2 hours and pay more money… Alternatively, pay through the nose in a car park like a fiver for 2 hours … Or you could go to the shopping centre with free parking, wide malls, variety of shops….they are soul -less though:(. I go to my local town and support local business whenever I can – but at the end of the day if it costs less to bulk buy at a multiple then that is generally what people do .
I was a florist but recession put an end to that. For that reason alone I’ve always tried to still buy flowers in a flower shop, newspapers etc in a newsagent and not buy everything in Dunnes/tesco etc. The other day I went to the newsagent I use a lot only to find they are charging an extra 50c if you want to pay by credit/debit card regardless of how much you spend. I totally get shops not taking cards for anything under €10 because of the charges but having the card payment facilities also increases their customer base so I was stunned. I questioned the charge and only paid it because I was in too much of a hurry to go elsewhere but I won’t go there again. I’m all for independent retailers but when they charge extra for the privilege of your custom there, that’s when I say, “stuff that I’ll just buy it all in Dunnes”. I emailed the shop too to say how I felt but no response. Some don’t help themselves.
Why don’t the shops form co.ops and buy direct from the farmers…
I would do the majority of my shopping in dunnes but I’ll buy my meat and veg in my local butchers and green grocers in galtymore rd drimnagh, they do great offers on fruit veg and meat.. Wouldn’t go anywhere else.
If you want to see what supporting the current big shop trends, look to North America where it started 20-30 years ago. Now most of the small shops are struggling and retail is dominated by Walmart where workers make $7/hour with no benefits and good come in from China.. I think what is needed is another approach.. people shop at Tesco etc for the larger selection and lower prices. Maybe what is needed is a cooperative network for small retailers which can negotiate better prices and bring in some form of on-demand shopping. If I can go online and order goods which then are delivered through my local shop, its saves me petrol and time and they can shift stock to support what people are looking forward… just-in-time shopping with the independent retailers as the distribution network. It certainly would eliminate any need for me to go the bigger shops
Simple – All sole traders or family run retail businesses get say a 70% rebate in paid Commercial Rates paid to their City/Town/County Council – the short fall in the coffers is then collected via a Multiple or a Franchise levy – will require a bye law being passed – but I’m sure all the LA candidates have the ability !? !
Dunlaghoire Rathdown is the most corrupt of allocable authorities. The amount they spend on lighting and signage is criminal. London the most visited city by tourists keep their lights cor at least 100 years. We keep replacing them as fashion dictates or as brown envelopes are needed. Rates are increased to facilitate their excess icicle spending which is totally unnecessary. Rotten to their core.
Cost and convenience..The only reasons people moved away from the local retailer.
If you think that 6 years into recession, we are suddenly going to start substantially cutting salaries in our local authorities and laying people off, so that we can seriously reduce commercial rates, and that we are going to suddenly start cutting the wages in ESB so that we can reduce the costs to business there, and that we are going to take on these vested interests, we are deluding ourselves.
We’ve wasted a good crisis, small business is goosed in this country, because the bean counters working in our local authorities and in government, would rather small independent retailers were all gone, they want people shopping in big retail parks, where they have large clients like Tesco, Dunnes, ALDI and LIDL, and why do they want this set up…? Because the operators of these large worldwide firms will write them a big fat cheque for a six digit sum every business quarter. This is a lot easier to manage than a whole town full of smaller independent operators who will struggle with commercial rates, especially during the business start up phase. Make no mistake about it, small independent retailers are not part of the future agenda for this country, because the local authorities now need the big retail giants around the country, to pay their still bloated wage bill every month.
Your future Supermarket will come with a chip….
My company works with Independents in more than 40 towns in Ireland, NI and UK. There is a marked difference in support for indies in UK vs Ireland from Government and groups like BIRA, FSB and Towns Alive. Because of central initiatives it has created an environment that encourages collaboration between indie biz owners. This is a bit of a generalisation as you can see good and poor examples from town to town, but the more successful towns are the ones that have vibrant collaboration between biz owners. Sort of like putting an imaginary roof over the town and replicating a shopping centre.
Indie biz working with local government and or chambers of commerce can address issues from both ends, on the ground choice, personality and value, and from the other, providing infrastructure such as parking and rates works. This article demonstrates businesses (the expanding butcher) that try to build a business can thrive vs biz that is trying to hang is pretty much in a downward spiral. If a town is to thrive in todays market, collaborate and have a strategy that makes sure that the local public is aware they are open for business and don’t use the ‘use us or lose us’ message as is clear in the comments above, people respond to price or value focused marketing.
I’d shop in them if they weren’t overpriced, generally staffed by ignorant, lazy, full of themselves owners and opened the same hours as the major retailers.
have your say