Sir, – Almost half of all new Covid cases each day are in Dublin. This is not surprising as a quarter of the population of Ireland is living in Dublin which is the country’s third-smallest county.The remainder of new cases are divided among most of the other 25 counties. What is the point of keeping the entire country under lockdown while waiting for the number of new cases in Dublin to reach an acceptable level? Why can’t shops and churches and businesses, whatever about the hospitality industry, reopen outside Dublin? – Yours, etc,
KATHLEEN BARTON,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.
Sir, – Your reporting on this country’s calamitous vaccine rollout (News, March 9th) does none of us any favours when it uncritically repeats the point that Ireland has “fully vaccinated” a greater share of its population than the UK.
The UK has “fully vaccinated” a smaller share only because it has kept up with science and recognised that the first dose is far more useful than the second. This is partly why the UK will emerge from the pandemic weeks before we do.
The fact that our vaccine strategy is inefficient is not something to be celebrated, and sharing misleading statistics such as this one only serves to entrench bad decisions that cost lives. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN HEAVEY,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.