Press Release: Inconsistent to not close construction sites, factories and call centres

• Inconsistent to not close construction sites, factories and call centres - undermines social distance calls

• Public health must come before private profit

“The explicit refusal of the Taoiseach to close non-essential construction sites, factories and call centres means that the advice from the government today is inconsistent. To ask people not to gather in groups of more than four, but then to suggest that workers go to work with hundreds of others, often in places where social distancing is not possible, simply doesn’t make sense. It’s no wonder some people ignore the advice about social distancing, when inconsistent messages are coming from the government. Even Boris Johnson eventually accepted the need to close non-essential workplaces. 

Varadkar said that our health comes before all else. However, the actions of Fine Gael suggest that they’ve given in to lobbying from the construction industry and are putting the profits of the construction industry before doing what is necessary for public health. All non-essential workplaces should be closed immediately. Jobs should be protected, and full income guaranteed for all workers. 

“In the last  24 hours, the government declared that it is pursuing the ‘South Korean model’ for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the situation has rapidly moved on from the point where a South Korean approach to this pandemic is possible. The cornerstone of the approach taken in South Korea was the almost-immediate rolling out of mass testing and contact tracing, which allowed them to keep very close track of the spread of the virus in order to contain it. We agree that widespread testing should begin immediately. However, given the big backlog of testing in Ireland, with 40,000 waiting, the horse has already unfortunately bolted on that. It is therefore vital that all non-essential workplaces, including factories, construction sites and call centres are shut down. Taking this measure now could save thousands of lives.”