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Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams at last year's Leinster House Christmas carol service. Sam Boal
New ball game
A future Fine Gael and Sinn Féin coalition? Not completely impossible, it would seem
Enda Kenny has declined to rule out whether Fine Gael would consider going into coalition government with Sinn Féin.
11.37am, 27 Jan 2017
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TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has declined to rule out whether Fine Gael would consider going into government with Sinn Féin,muddying the waters on his previous stance which was against such a coalition.
In an interview with TheJournal.ie published last Sunday, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said her party was mindful of who to enter into government with as a possible junior partner if the situation arose.
What we don’t want is to be in government just for the thrill of it, for the personal advancement of it… We are conscience of the fact that in previous coalition arrangements, different parties have really failed to carry their politics and deliver.
Of course it is a concern. You would have to be incredibly foolish not to have that concern… But that is not to say we don’t want to be in government, of course we do.
It would be as and when it emerges a big, big challenge for us – but it is a challenge we have to take on.
McDonald repeated her party’s change in stance on national radio later in the week .
When asked about her comments, the Taoiseach said:
“I saw the comment from the deputy leader of the Sinn Féin party. I am glad that they are now beginning to realise that in order to get things done you need to be there.”
When pressed on the issue of a possible Fine Gael – Sinn Féin coalition government, Kenny said:
I don’t see Fine Gael doing business with Sinn Fein that’s not going to arise under this administration in any event.
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However, with this government losing three votes in the last eight days, this minority government doesn’t appear to be on solid ground these days.
So, Kenny ruled out business with Sinn Féin during this administration – but what about the next election?
Are all bets off? Or, after a divided election, are political parties now reassessing who they might get into bed with?
“I said I wouldn’t do business with Fianna Fáil so depending on the result you gave as a member of the electorate, politicians have to work with the result,” said Kenny.
Could this change of stance leave the door open to Sinn Féin being the junior party in government with Fine Gael? The Taoiseach replied with just one sentence:
The next one [election] is probably a much stronger result for Fine Gael I would think.
What do you think?
Poll: Would you like to see a Fine Gael – Sinn Féin government next time around?
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@David Lee: why? The call here is for funding. I don’t see anything in the article that criticises NPHET or lockdowns or affirmative action to help control the virus spread. How do you think that not having a lock down, flooding our hospital with cases, overrunning our testing facilities, clogging up our GP services is going to help mental health treatment in this country?
@Fr. Fintan Stack: Yes I absolutely do & I’ve lost people due to lack of cancer diagnosis from initial lockdown who would have probably survived, but this article is solely about mental health.
@David Lee: You borrow that’s how, they borrow for teachers, nurses and gardai they can borrow for mental health who’s budget is already measly. I work in mental health private sector so public funding doesnt influence me. I am taking calls and the stories I hear when I’m in work of increased self harm ideation, anxiety through the roof substance abuse on the rise. The government needs to get real and seriously tackle mental health.
@David Lee: the tax take is holding up, apart from VAT. We’re €9bn overspend at the moment and we’ll borrow more, just like every other country, if we have to. For starters I for one would freeze all public sector pay increases and divert this money to health. This is no time for pay increases when private sector workers are losing jobs and being put on short time. This would see substantial savings that could be diverted to mental health. Look to freeze other high spending non-essential projects e.g. public transport and divert the money to health and so on.
@David Lee: Yea, send this to Holohan and tell him not to bother with the article, just to read the headline and then the comments. He’ll see for himself the mental health impacts this pandemic is having. A growing percentage of our population doesn’t want to follow the science anymore, just their own ‘solutions’ dragged from some dark area within their minds. From “It’s a giant conspiracy and Covid19 doesn’t exist” to “OMG, we’re all going to die. Lock us in our homes now”. It’s one of the reasons I don’t want schools shut down again. Sitting at home all day listening to irrational nonsense from parents will have far greater long term mental health impacts on children than Covid ever will.
@GrumpyAulFella: “How do you think that not having a lock down, flooding our hospital with cases, overrunning our testing facilities, clogging up our GP services services is going to help mental health treatment in this country?”
we are currently not in lockdown, our hospitals are NOT flooded with cases, our tesing facilities are not achieveing their 100,000 target
our GP services are quite far from clogged….
so, you are saying we should have a lockdown just IN CASE of all of the above?
@Kavsie: we’re testing at and above 88,000 per day at present. Our hospital admission rates are increasing and all of this while still keeping pubs closed and many people working from home and with L3 measures in Dublin. What do you think would happen if there were no measures in place, all pubs and restaurants were open, everyone back on public transport, attendance at sporting events etc? Use your loaf lad and look up exponential growth.
@Kavsie: Forget for a moment the people commenting here. Can you explain why you think you are right, and highly trained epidemiologists who tell us we need to act now to prevent Covid from spiralling out of control, are wrong ? Actually a serious question. All NPHET do is offer health recommendations based on best available data. It’s up to Government to decide whether or not to accept those recommendations, either in whole or in part. Is it NPHETs expert opinions you don’t trust or the Government’s ability to weigh up the pros and cons of acting on those opinions ?
@Sean Oige: I booked my smear test this morning. My friend’s mother is receiving treatment for cancer. Would you care to provide a credible source to support your assertion that cancer services have “been put on the long finger”.
@Felicity Hensen: people had smears and breast checks cancelled and rescheduled when the first lockdown was implemented in March. A 6 month delay could make a big difference to some people.
@Felicity Hensen: well my smear was due in June and I only received my letter last Friday. When I rang up to enquire about it in August they told me it was delayed because of the covid restrictions and they were working through the back log in phases so I guess I should be lucky I have mine already.
@Felicity Hensen: follow up screening for prostate and thyroid cancer was cancelled also back in March as they were considered low risk. Services resumed in June, but again 3 month delays were experienced
@Anna Anna: and will this improve without a lockdown as our GP services, clinics and hospitals start filling up with Covid and suspected Covid cases? You seem to be suggesting that our hospital services will improve with a deadly virus on the loose laying waste to our elderly and health compromised population.
@Felicity Hensen: it depends on what type of cancer treatment. Chemotherapy has been available all along. Other types of treatment were stopped. That includes ablations which is basically microwaving a lesion. It has started again, but for many people who were due to receive it, it’s too late. The lesion is either too big or they have died. Also ICU consultant on the radio this morning saying that large numbers of people aren’t attending for colonoscopies because they’re too afraid of catching covid.
It is only in the years to come that the real impact of these decisions will be realised and it will not be confined to just mental health issues although these will be significant but to all aspects of health, well being and our physical, social, economic etc environment. We were told the plan was to develop a living alongside the virus plan but the response is just to keep locking us down and long-term that is not a workable solution, it now seems the same people occupy our dreams and nightmares but worse still is that the nightmare continues even after we wake.
True. But whenever that time comes NPHET members will not be held accountable as they will say it was just ‘advice’. It is the government who will decide to take that advice or not. Professor McConkey was on Primetime last week saying if we had a 3 month national lockdown we could eliminate the virus. It seems that the Zero Covid Professors are influencing NPHET behind the scenes. This level 5 lockdown (oreven level 4 which seems more likely) will not just be for 4 weeks. The cases will continue to rise in the Winter as the virus spreads easier in colder environments. As Prof Carl Heneghan said the virus can never be eliminated as it can survive in an animal host. The Zero Covid Professors had no response to this when he spoke at the Seanad Covid Committee. Lockdowns only delay the spread.
@Anna Anna: and he was on RTE radio again this morning. Saying we should be like Asia . Like Australian and New Zealand where the infected are removed by the police or military to detention “ quarantine centres” & plan to live isolated from the world. The zero Covid fantasists are indeed influencing the government and public health policy and RTE are facilitating them.
I’m not watching or listening to more RTE and their countless documentaries on Covid 19 and their biased interviews & zero Covid recurrent guests designed to spread panic for compliance.
@Anna Anna: that’s exactly what we want to do, delay the spread, control admissions, save lives. Have NPHET ever stated that their objective was to eliminate the virus? What effect would giving this virus free rein have on our hospital services? Would cancer screening improve with hospitals flooded with increasing Covid cases? Would people’s mental health be better going out and about not knowing if the person beside them is carrying Covid and that there is an uncontrolled virus on the loose? What about our elderly and vulnerable population? How would their mental and physical health fair with an uncontrolled deadly, to them, virus on the loose? Protective immunity would require that 70%-80% of the population are immune and we have a vaccine.
@Anna Anna: It’s true that there are zero covid advocates on NPHET but senior members not in favour of the zero covid proposals as they don’t believe they are workable and are on record saying so.
Going to level 5 doesn’t mean they want zero covid. It means they want to aggressively tackle the spread for a time, before restrictions are relaxed again once the numbers stabilise. It’s all in the Govt. roadmap… which mentions nothing about a zero covid strategy.
@Anna Anna: Also, I’ve read Prof. Heneghan’s testimony to the Special Committee, and you’re misrepresenting it (as well as the responses to him).
He did not say elimination wasn’t possible due to the animal host issue, but he flagged it as a problem. Some species can contract Covid-19 but don’t seem to be able to transmit the virus to humans, there has been research on this. It’s speculative to say the least, which is strange coming from a professor proclaiming himself to be so evidence-based in his thinking.
To say the other members had no response is also false. Prof Susan Michie pointed out after he spoke that he was really talking about the possibility of eradication rather than elimination strategies, which he seems to have mixed up in his head.
@Anna Anna: everyone should read the information directly themselves before they decide to agree with any journal commenter (and I include myself in that). There had been a couple of videos posted on YouTube with short clips from the Seanad Covid Committee with Prof Heneghan. I’ve included one below https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/special_committee_on_covid_19_response/2020-08-13/4/
“Faced with a new cluster this week after 102 days without a locally transmitted case, New Zealand has quickly enacted this strategy, placing around 30 people — including at least two children below the age of 10 — into centralized quarantine.”
It’s not funding that is required it’s the suspension of excessive pandemic measures & restrictions that is required. That is what is causing increased mental health issues. No amount of funding will help until the cause is eradicated.
To top it up not even statistical services are working to measure the impact of lockdown in Ireland.
Services are providing counselling over the phone or online and many provided this for free during the first lockdown. Also low cost counseling is available for people.
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