How bad can it get?

Sam McConkey has done no small service in alerting this island to the threat from the coronavirus, and he’s been calling for some sort of resolution politically – in the shape of some sort of national or unity government during this period too. In truth we have a de facto unity government, and are likely to have a new one in the near future too. Granted that is limited and partial but the demands the GP or whoever ‘must’ enter government seem to me to be unreasonable and utterly contradictory given the equal vehemence that SF ‘cannot’ enter government’. In fairness to McConkey I’m not sure he’s putting limits on participation. Indeed anything but:

To continue that good tradition of debate and discussion, we should find ways for our current parliamentary process to deliberate about future proposals. For example, a series of cross-party subcommittees of TDs and senators that, in full view of the public, could debate urgently and make concrete new proposals to address Covid-19 issues, agree solutions and quickly propose all-party and cross-party consensus plans for the Government to enact. We can use consensus-promoting tools such as preferendums and matrix voting.

That doesn’t sound exclusionary.

But more pertinent in a sense is the following:

Although the Taoiseach announced further sensible restrictions on travel, personal interactions and social gatherings on Tuesday and further measures on Friday, as well as supports for the businesses and people affected, many more interventions may yet be needed.

He elaborates somewhat on these:

To aid in contact tracing and isolation, should our personal GPS location from our mobile phones and other mobile data be gathered without the explicit consent of individuals? This needs debate and legal clarity. Should even stricter travel and quarantine rules be applied? How could these be enforced? Where would travellers be quarantined? How can we keep open our airports and seaports for trade in goods and services? Should we, or could we, do voluntary quarantine of entire towns and regions? Should An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces detain people who break any curfew or quarantine? How should we advocate in Europe for a multinational approach to Covid-19? How should we build links with China, which seems to have solved this problem there?

All fair points, and he’s absolutely correct that there is a pressing need for democratic legitimation of future measures. But even he resiles from arguing that these proposed measure will definitely be needed. Still it does raise the issue of how strict could matters get.

What do others think?