500 reasons for the Irish to stay at home

And so … The Irish government is to try to stop anyone leaving the country by air. The mechanism is a €500 fine imposed if the reason given for being at the airport is deemed insufficient and inessential by the police who are checking. 

 So, what does the alleged miscreant do once the boys in blue have stopped him (or her, or ze) and imposed the fine? Do they meekly go back home or do they just head into the Departures lounge?

 

Unfortunately due to the 5 kilometre limit I cannot go there and find out. But common sense – and the nature of the person who was planning to go for a couple of weeks in Torremolinos at this time – suggests that they won’t be for turning. 

 

The legality of it all is interesting, too. A lawyer friend points out that the right to travel is one of the unenumerated (ie, implied) rights in the Irish Constitution. But whether that extends only to the boundaries of the nation or to travelling outside the state is a point that could be tested in court. And I admit I will be very interested to see if anybody does take this latest restriction to the courts. Clear two pages a day, editor!

 

The right to travel is clearly stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Ireland is a signatory. Article 13 says: “You have the right to leave your country to go to another one; and you should be able to return to your country if you want.”

 

Envisage the heart-rending scenes in court, with the deprived holidaymaker shaking with sobs till the judge, inevitably, has to support their argument.

 

The nub of the issue, though, is whether citizens of a state buy in to the idea of society, of solidarity with others and doing things that are to the benefit of all. So what is it with these people who have no compunction about jumping on a crowded place, going to a different country where Covid might also rampage?

 

I just watched a live interview with Dr Anthony Fauci, who made no bones (sorry) about the ongoing Covid-19 dilemma, and how the scientists’ job is to keep one jump ahead of the mutating virus, while the population’s job is to do everything to stop it spreading. However, he did describe the peculiar nature of this “nefarious” virus, in that 40 per cent of people with it have no symptoms, whereas others die or are, it seems, permanently affected.

 

It’s easy enough to put yourself in the place of someone, maybe young and healthy, who doesn’t listen to or read conventional stuffed-shirt media, and can’t see [yet] in their own lives what all the fuss is about. There was an anecdote on Newstalk radio yesterday from a person renting in a house where the landlord declares the pandemic  is all a con, who is still having dinner parties and refuses to do social distancing.

 

What can you do with those people? And how long will it take us compliant citizens to turn into them?

 

Most of us have been good, done all the isolation etc, for coming up to a year now. As someone just said to me, “Well, January was at least nine weeks long.” But there’s really no end in sight, no chance of normal life unless you suddenly teleport to New Zealand. Just don’t try getting there via Dublin Airport.

 

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