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NORTHERN IRELAND IS set to reintroduce legally enforceable stay-at-home orders as the UK tightens Covid-19 restrictions.
Both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister have confirmed the plans after Scotland yesterday introduced laws requiring people not to leave their homes except for essential purposes.
“We will be putting the message of stay at home back into regulations, back into law, again,” Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster said last night.
“The message will be stay at home unless you have a reason to leave home. Those reasons will be put into law. We think that is necessary given the huge rise in positive cases here in Northern Ireland.”
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill also said that the stay at home advice will be put into legislation and travel rules will be updated.
The Northern Ireland Executive is set to meet this afternoon and will then brief the Assembly tomorrow.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said last night the law will be updated to reflect a new nationwide lockdown.
In addition to the restrictions already in place....Remote learning will be extended. Stay at home will be put in to regulation. Travel will be revisited. Education & Health Minister to bring detail of proposals to meeting of Exec tomorrow to include recommendations on exams
— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) January 4, 2021
Advice vs Law
The move to put stay-at-home orders into legislation is more severe than has been implemented in the Republic of Ireland during the pandemic.
As TCD Law Professor David Kenny outlined in TheJournal.ie previously, during the first lockdown most of the movement restrictions and other measures were binding rules, with potential criminal sanction for not following them.
During subsequent lockdowns, the rules introduced to control behaviour were either unenforceable civil offences or simply advice.
As part of the new lockdown laws implemented across mainland Scotland, it is now against the law for someone to leave their home or garden except for essential purposes.
The Scottish Government has published a list of examples of “reasonable excuses” for people to leave their home, although people are told to “ stay as close to home as possible” even if their do leave.
Among the reasonable excuses are for work that cannot be done from home, essential shopping or healthcare including Covid-19 testing or vaccination.
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Do the same down here, and close the off licences to stop the house partys…
@Neil Farrell: Off-licences don’t cause parties; being young causes parties.
Closing off-licences makes about the same sense as closing the maternity wards.
@Neil Farrell: instead of closing the off-licenses, why not limit the amount of drink a person can purchase?
I like to have a few drinks at home at the weekend, why should I be punished because a few that are breaking the rules
@Neil Farrell: People that want to drink are going to drink. Banning it, which is basically what you are suggesting would have a few impacts, most of them negative. People risking travel across the border to stock up, criminals smuggling drink, paramilitaries raising funds through smuggling, women (and sometimes men) being stuck in abusive relationships with drunks, and whose only relief is when the drunk finally passes out for the night. Who will those abusive drunks take it out on if forced to go dry ? Older people whose only pleasure left in life is a couple of halfs in the evening before bed.
@Neil Farrell: The vast majority of people who go to the off licence do not have house parties. Perhaps ban vehicles that are on the roads as they might be used to bring them to and from the house parties.
Perhaps also ban finger food and snacks as they too might lead to people having house parties?
Personal responsibility and accountability should be the key and when one fails to abide by the law, the penalties should reflect the crime or offence.
@Neil Farrell: Its like saying close the supermarkets to stop dinner parties… So juts stop it already….
@Jim Buckley Barrett: Agree in part, but should i be stopped buying lets say a case of wine and a slab of beer, as i wish to only head to the off license once for the month.. I then do not have to return…
@Fachtna Roe: being young! Sadly I know of loads of 40s types that had pissups during the first lockdown last year, especially when the weather was good.
@Carlin Ite: Absolutely, there are some of those according to reports. The correlation of age and parties stands, notwithstanding outliers in the present circumstance. I seem to remember the graph as having an odd shape. :)
Should be the same here. I never realised before how much of Dublin lived within 5km of Wicklow before the last few weeks…
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: Are we not over-reacting? Close this, close that, close, close, close. Tiring after a while.
You must be all stocked up Neil
Is construction still open in NI and across the pond?
@Niall Devaney: Yeah lads are still working in NI anyway.
@Niall Devaney: yes but they are always empty anyway because every single Northy works on a site in Dublin.
Once snarlene is seen by her cronies to be tying in with her Neighbours in the Uk instead of taking an all Ireland approach just to keep unionists happy and don’t be worrying about the lose of life is her main priority.shameful how they are playing the politics card during this pandemic
Will you still be able to attend a good friend’s funeral in NI.
@Cosmos20202020: The person to ask is Charlie Flanagan. He attended a huge funeral, while Min for Justicel during the first lockdown, where nobody was social distancing. You know that rule FFGGL have – one low standard rule for them and a much higher standard demanded from everyone else. You’ll get the bold Charlies contact details on Gov.ie, or better yet you can ask him personally at the next FG AF.
What is a disgrace is the Irish flag on a terrorist5 coffin
Because keeping healthy people cooped up in their houses for weeks on end is scientifically proven to prevent the spread of disease? I mean isn’t that why the flu season is in winter? everyone indoors and in closer quarters due to it being cold outside?
Is construction staying open in NI and across the pond?
@Niall Devaney: why are we bothered?
@Anne Busher Collins: Maybe because that’s alot of peoples livelihood?? C’mon now it’s not rocket science.
police state
Do the same here !! Now !
have your say