ITS TIME TO TAKE HEED OF ADVICE

Posted on 21st March 2020

Slane Castle

I am struggling to put words together this week from my cocoon where I keep contact with family and friends via phone and email, exchanging Covid stories, much like I imagine my parents exchanged stories during the 2nd World War, the last time in this country they had an event called the Emergency.  On Wednesday I had to venture out to St. James’s Hospital for a scheduled treatment.   Masked and gloved I entered through several checks and had my temperature taken.  It was so calm and contained.  It was eerie because you could almost sense the surge was coming.

Every day I listen to the News bulletins with a sense of impending doom and yet I have to say I was impressed by the Taoiseach when he addressed the nation.  The tone and the content was damn near perfect.  The wheels are back on his wagon.  Just when we wanted him to, he sounded like a Statesman.  This, of course, raises an interesting question.  Are we happy with the way the caretaker government is handling the most serious crisis since the nation’s inception ?  Good heavens, even the previously hapless Simon Harris has been performing well, although I find it hard to forget he cancelled the match but still let all those Italian visitors into the country.  My instincts still tell me that we do need to see the formation of a new government to give authority and legitimacy to any difficult decisions that have to be taken.  It would not be good for the nation for this process to be delayed unnecessarily using Covid-19 as an excuse.  As Mary Lou said on Thursday “ We need stability”.

But back to the dreaded virus.  Do any of us want to see the nightmarish images emerging from Italy of a military convoy of coffins heading to crematoriums – a nation burying their dead.  We do not want to see anything resembling that taking place on the streets of Dublin, Cork or Limerick.  So my friends take heed to the warnings issued by our government.  This must be a great collective effort and one which will give us the strength as a nation to not only stall the progress of this deadly virus but also the will and the spirit to repair our economy after the devastation it continues to impose.

Take care and stay safe.



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