Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 24 Sep 2020
THE CABINET HAS decided to place Donegal under Level 3 of restrictions, amid a spike in cases in the county.
The decision was made at an incorporeal meeting of ministers as they considered the latest advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
According to the data published earlier today from Health Protection and Surveillance Centre (HPSC), Donegal’s 14-day Covid-19 incidence rate of 122.5 per 100,000 population is second only to Dublin. With tonight’s latest figures, it now has eclipsed Dublin.
Speaking this evening, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that government had “no choice other than to act, and act decisively”.
The restrictions will kick in from midnight tomorrow night and will last for three weeks.
“We will not hesistate to take whatever decisions are necessary to protect lives and public health,” Martin said. “The government has decided that all of Co Donegal must now join Dublin.”
The Taoiseach also announced additional supports for the county, with a 30% top-up to the restart plus grant to help those affected during the three-week period.
He said that while not inevitable, it could be the case that other areas could be put under stricter restrictions in the future as the virus continues to spread across the country.
Given Donegal’s proximity to Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach said he’d discussed developments with Stormont’s first minister Arlene Foster and deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill. He also said that Dr Ronan Glynn was in contact with his counterpart in Northern Ireland and that discussions would be ongoing to ensure the most effective co-operation as the fight against Covid-19 goes on.
Martin added that Covid levels in Louth, Waterford, Wicklow, Kildare, Cork and Galway are being watched closely.
Outbreaks are particularly bad in the Lifford and Stranorlar areas, acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said at a press conference this evening. In the case of Stranorlar, it has 14-day incidence rate of 336 per 100,000 population – the highest in the country.
“We’re all eager for normal life to return,” he said. “But this is the opportunity the virus has been waiting on… do not underestimate the value of your individual actions. Please stick with this.
I do not want to be back here next week having to make recommendations for other counties. There is an opportunity now for people to take action to stop that from happening.
Today’s decision will come as a blow to the business owners of Donegal, their families and their staff, and especially for rural pubs which have only just opened the doors. I know this will feel like another set back after what has been a really tough year
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) September 24, 2020
Under Level 3, a range of new restrictions will apply in the county. All of the restrictions that apply in Dublin now apply in Donegal – with one exception.
People in Donegal would be told to stay in the county and only leave it for essential purposes, only have visitors from one other household in your home or garden and to work from home unless absolutely necessary.
Indoor dining in pubs and restaurants would not be allowed, with only outdoor dining permitted to a maximum of 15 people. Unlike Dublin, wet pubs can remain open but with the same limit of a maximum of 15 people outdoors only.
This weekend, weddings in Donegal can proceed as originally planned up to a limit of 50 guests. However, from Monday weddings can have a maximum of 25 guests.
The government unveiled its new five-level system last week and Dublin was moved from Level 2 to Level 3 on Saturday.
It is hoped that increasing restrictions will stabilise the growth rate of Covid-19 in an area and eventually see them reduce to an extent that restrictions can be loosened again.
Donegal-based GP Denis McCauley told TheJournal.ie earlier today that he and colleagues could see Covid-19 “bubbling through the actual community” in recent weeks.
“These aren’t discrete outbreaks,” he said. “It is bubbling through the community. We have one to two weeks to get this under control in Donegal.”
“I think Donegal is probably where it is now because of the warm weather and because it is summer.”
He said that people staycationing in Donegal, coupled with “a complacency that has existed or a little while”, might be the cause of the severe outbreak.
Reacting to the announcement, Sinn Féin TDs for Donegal Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said it would come as “very difficult news” for the people of the county.
They said: “People have tried very hard in recent months to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been a very challenging time. We now need to dig deep and get back to Level 2 as soon as possible.
“Together we can get ahead of the virus by following public health advice, by limiting our social contacts and staying safe.”
With reporting from Christina Finn, Dominic McGrath
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I think this is very unfair on landlords who have nonpaying tenants. i agree with no evictions for paying tenants, but this infringes on property rights. remember there are lots of accidental landlords out there in negative equity.
@DeWitt: yes and then the cost of getting them out. I don’t know why they have an eviction ban when it takes over a year to get someone out of your own property and them not paying. And as for that 5 euros a week they will pay you back when they owe you €15000. I wonder if you just took there car for the value of what they owe you how far would you get. The law is wrong wrong wrong. I surprised anyone pays rent.
@DeWitt: You make a good point. But the political narrative refuses to recognise that the majority of landlords are ordinary joes and Josephines and decent people. Likewise vast majority of tenants are good. There are a minority of bad eggs on both sides. These minorities are causing a lot of harm. I have a house rented out. It is my pension investment. I have a brilliant tenant in place for almost 10 years. I get about 60% of the market rate. I could have upped rent by 30%, 40% or 50% a few years ago but i chose not to. If my tenant stops paying tomorrow i have zero recourse. That isn’t fair. I still have to pay insurance, repairs etc.
@Ger Murphy:
Tenants often have nothing and face homelessness if evicted.
It’s a pandemic, many peoples income has dried up over night and our attitude should be to look out for those most vulnerable over concern for a pension investment.
Everyone is being asked to bear the burden of the pandemic in some way or another to protect those around us, only a select few are choosing to complain about it for being out of pocket.
@Rochelle: yes agree then tennant should apply for housing benefit.
@Rochelle: I’m 100% with you. The point i was making (badly) was there is a small % who will use this as an opportunity to just not pay. That goes against the who collective spirit of everyone doing their bit.
@DeWitt: Is not unfair at all, landlords and estate agencies are a bunch of ********
@marian: so it’s not unfair some one doesn’t pay rent in over a year and takes another year to get them out that’s 2 years no rent paid. Oh yea oh yea that is so fair you f…… T.. T.
@Rochelle: it’s about personal responsibility. Why is the landlord responsible for the tenants. If a person owns a house and wants to sell it, then they should be allowed do so. Tenants have to look after themselves not the landlord.
@Shamel Jelupi Barron: they do pay the rents on time everytime stfu
@marian: Lol, life is not a free ride, even the most poor here live in the top 15% in the world.
@DeWitt: no such thing as a accidental landlords. Did they accidentally stumble upon a pen and fall onto a desk that had mortgage documentation on it and accidentally scrawled their name. Cop on.
@Rochelle: You are missing the point. If the government want to ban evictions that’s fine but they then need to cover the cost. I am an accidental landlord who bought a house to live in and could not sell when I needed to move on. I could not afford to pay two mortgages. I have a family and three kids to look after also with just me working. Can I get your details and ask you to make a contribution towards the rent if they can’t pay it? I don’t want to see anyone evicted but I don’t want to go under myself either, it can’t be all one sided. If you were suddenly asked to pay out an extra 1000 eur a month for a year through no fault of your own what kind of impact would that have on your life and the life of your dependents. My point here is there are two sides to the story.
@DeWitt: cry me a river you carb loader.
@DeWitt: How could anybody be an accidental landlord ~ Did a house or apartment land on their greedy head !
@DeWitt: Tenants can’t look after themselves due to a market demanding massive rents which can’t be covered by the covid payment rate. It’s a societal issue caused by a mixture of a housing market out of control and a pandemic, neither of which are the fault of tenants.
It’s not particularly fair on landlords either but they can bear the burden with minimal consequence, tenants cannot.
@JP Pilibin: It easily happens. You buy a house during the boom to live in and take a massive hit on it between the massive deposit you paid and then the fact it plummets in value. If you then need to move on and selling it won’t cover the mortgage you are then stuck with it and need to hold on to it for 10 years or so to try and recoup your losses. You are now an accidental landlord who never had any intention of getting into the property game.Happened to thousands of people most of whom would now be in late 30s or early to mid 40s
It’s a start.
There also needs to be tax assistance to people who are paying more than 50% of their net salary in rent.
@Cookie: Tax assistance is pointless and will just mean tax payers subsidising rent which will probably result in rents sky rocketing
@Cookie: makes more sense to reduce tax on rent paid and have a method to show it is passed on to the tenant. Cheaper to administer
@Sal Paradise: how could that happen in a rent freeze?
@Brendan Barr: I’m basing on assumption that this is a long term suggestion as opposed to a temporary one.
Wages are the same for years! Rent increase should happen once every 5 years or so ( but with a limit ), I’m living at this address for 10 years and my landlord has added 50-100euro every year (except once)…
@marian: yes there should be rent caps in place a lot of landlords purchased property years ago and when they did buy the rents being charged was high enough to cover mortgage repayments and any maintenance issues that arises. But now it’s just pure greed by the landlords in a lot of instances what the Tennant is like doesn’t matter it’s who offers the most rent and ability to pay it.
@marian: Your landlord owes you nothing.
@D’oh: explain
@Bab Read: rent shouldn’t have to cover the entire mortgage. A landlord is getting a very valuable asset at the end of term.
@Aidan O’ Neill: oh very good and do you go into shops and explain to them what you think they should be charging you based on how profitable you think their business model is?
@Sean: How do you feel, personally, about the people who bought PPE by the box-load at the start of the COVID pandemic, with the intention of re-selling it at a premium to people desperate for a means to protect themselves from the virus? Such cases were reported widely in the media in February and March, and such individuals were rightly condemned across the board as out-and-out vile jerks.
Those who accumulate property which they don’t have a personal need of just so they can exploit a shortage by leeching money from their desperate fellow citizens are literally doing exactly the same thing, just on a longer time scale and with slower-burning repercussions than those who did so with PPE during the pandemic. Hoarding property one has no personal need for should be a societal taboo in the same way as littering, throwing away good food, smoking in enclosed spaces, wasting clean water, etc. Those who engage in it are responsible for many of society’s ailments.
The high cost of housing, driven in a large part by competition between speculators who have no need to actually live in the property they treat like a mere trading card, is causing absolute misery for tens of thousands of Irish people, and anyone who willingly contributes to this problem should be regarded as a pariah.
@D’oh: f my landlord and all other landlords that exploit this shortage of housing in Ireland, the virus gonna take care of them!
@marian: Did you just get up?
@marian: yes they do I have just been exploited property was sold rent was very good we had a tenancy termination order placed on me has a condition of sale otherwise sale would not had happened I was days away from being evicted but managed to agree a deal which gives me a year but with a substantial hike in rent
Our country has become to left wing liberal. We need a political party that represents hard working people who work hard all their life to accumulate something to pass on to their kids. The government and the left wing media only seem to care about people who dont want to work or dont want to pay their rent, mortgage or whatever. Politicians and journalists are out of touch with the real hard working people of ireland. If you cant pay your rent you should get out. I never took anything in my life I couldnt pay for.
@Tommy Fitzgerald: welcome to the entitled Ireland
@Tommy Fitzgerald: and what about those hardworking people who due to extortionate rents cannot accumulate anything to pass on to their kids? I think you are the one who is out of touch with the real hard working people of Ireland who some of them earn an average income but yet cannot afford to get on the property ladder. No one claims that you should give anyone anything for free but but if you force them to give landlords more than 50% of their income then there is something wrong, don’t you think?
@Tommy Fitzgerald: geebag
Great, so tenants who dont pay rent are protected but if banks repossess the property due to landlords not paying their mortgage, what then?
This is totally unfair to the Landlord
@Are You For Real: boo hoo
But 6 months ago they said it was against the constitution to have a rent freeze!!!
@Jack Cass: they certainly did.. But as you know this is Ireland
@Geoff Bateman: it is. That is why the AG told them to end it.
@Sean: Constitution can only be changed by Referendum, not AG.
@Jack Cass: No its not ~
@Jack Cass: a permanent rent freeze is illegal that is what they said and that remains true. The rent freeze is right in an extraordinary situation like now. The problem is they were already using a temporary rent freeze and kept extending it make it permanent. This was to get around the constitution making it illegal as it continued.
A rent freeze isn’t much benefit to tenants spending half their wages on rent. Tax relief combined with a rent freeze or cap is what is required to help tenants live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Look no need to worry OBrien the bluffer that saved Murphy will ensure your not homeless until August. Meanwhile back in Malahide closed garda station all is quiet as Daragh cant get it open for his lawless lackies that got him elected. Sure look at the profile of the Banker$ that know on doors for him. One or two dodgy characters among them
O’Brien is a spoofer. The AG is giving him a none too subtle hint and indicating there is likely to be a constitutional issue raised with his ban on evictions. The law is so biased in favour of tenants in this country at this stage that any prospective investor thinking of entering the private rental market would be absolutely bonkers to proceed. Best to dig a big deep hole in the back garden for the cash instead. It’d be a lot less aggravation than attempting to get rid of a non-paying tenant in whose number there is bound to be an increase if O’Brien has his way and introduces this charter for rent-dodgers.
If people who already have somewhere to live would stop buying extra property in order to “earn” passive income without having to work for it, there would be less competition for residential property and thus prices would fall across the board. This is why the relentless “not all landlords are a problem” BS is so tiring – the very act of hoarding property you don’t actually use yourself is a problem in a country in which there isn’t enough residential property to go around.
Nobody questions the condemnation of people who, for example, bought PPE by the box-load to re-sell it at a premium when the pandemic began. Those people are rightly regarded as toxic leeches on society. Why should people who do the same with property not be regarded in the same way?
If you don’t need a place to live, don’t buy one. If you want to earn money, provide a service with your skills or make something to earn it. Using access to property you don’t actually *need* as a means of transferring wealth from those who are already being screwed with the spiralling cost of living may be legal, but it’s fundamentally immoral and people have every right to despise those who choose, of their own free will and through their own lack of care for their fellow human’s wellbeing, to engage in such practises.
Rent freeze during Covid-19 pandemic to end on August 1
Which owner? The banks are the property owners until the mortgage is paid in full so …
From “we expect the landlords pass the benefits to their tenants” to “the attorney and property ownership and blah blah blah”
The RTB has been operating unlawfully all throughout the pandemic and still, there are legal issues with the famous HAP and the ability of the Councils to enforce the building regulations and housing standards. To enforce RTB landlord is only the owner but the word of someone claiming being the landlord is not questionable at the RTB by Law
School leavers need a certification to enter in a construction site. However nothing is required to the persons with the Right to hold a key of tenants homes because an rare interpretation of the Law, to satisfy the need of controlling …. able adults
The pause bottom has been pushed and should remain in pause until the mess around private renting
Special attention to the frauds committed by the landlords …. just like everyone else
It is realistic to think the landlords have committed fraudulent pandemic claims as usual … Warm Home Scheme a specific EPA scheme to fight energy poverty … a despicable fraud of landlords
Keep pressed the pause bottom and take advantage of the unroll of the Smart Meters to REGISTER All THE TENANCIES by the dwelling MPRN … records of rent paid and State benefits granted to the landlord
Realistic and effective measures, screening and controlling landlords like anyone else!
@Maria Quinn: ya what now??
@Maria Quinn: you haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about
@Maria Quinn: can someone translate this please?
He must love landlords ~ What a plonker !
August 1st a happy day for the Healy Raey’s and all the other Landlords on the Political / Legal Scene
Ah makes me all warm and fuzzy. Psychos
Who will decide if the crisis is over bankers or medical personnel
have your say