Imposing restrictions on all of County Galway because of localised outbreaks of COVID-19 would be ‘extremely unfair’.
That’s the view of Galway East Sinn Féin’s Louis O’Hara, who criticised the Government’s new Living with Covid Plan which treats the county as one regional area.
“County Galway is far too big to be considered as one regional area. This means that an outbreak of Covid in Clifden or Galway City could result in restrictions for East Galway or other parts of the county,” said Louis O’Hara.
“This would be an intolerable situation, given the devastating effects restrictions have had on people’s lives over the last number of months.”
The Sinn Féin representative argued that any local restrictions should be as focused and as localised as possible, like the approach taken in Britain.
“To introduce restrictions on all of County Galway due to localised outbreaks would be extremely unfair on all of us who have made huge sacrifices over the past number of months, in particular for our local businesses who have had to close,” he said.
“Another area in which this plan is lacking common sense is the guidelines for the reopening of pubs.
“The time limit will remain for pubs in which only one metre social distancing is possible. This is going to result in people moving from pub to pub and coming into contact with more people, increasing the risk of the virus spreading.
“The plan is also lacking in clarity. It appears that there are actually 5.5 stages of this 5 point plan, with the country at stage 2 and Dublin at Stage 2.5.
This kind of unclear messaging undermines public health advice and we should expect much better from the government. “
