Ireland's punishing lockdown just got worse – and it's not even working

It’s been an exercise in futility since the get go, and now Ireland’s Green List is officially… empty. Or rather, it will be on Monday, when our current group of four approved countries (Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Liechtenstein) are all removed, and we can no longer go anywhere without facing a 14-day isolation upon our return.

When the Green List was announced back in July, it consisted of 15 countries, some of which you couldn’t even reach without contravening travel restrictions. The initial plan was for it to be updated every two weeks, but that simply didn’t happen.

Instead, the Green List was ignored, left without update until September and seemingly hidden at the bottom of a To Do pile that no one wanted to tackle. Not a single country has been added to the list since its introduction. Instead, the number has dwindled with each update that was announced, which made the whole rigmarole seem more like an exercise in telling us where not to go, rather than providing viable options for travel.

While the UK’s Green List has been far from perfect, it’s at least given some level of freedom to Britons who wanted to travel. Sure, I haven’t envied the shambolic scenes that ensued when restrictions were changed at the last minute, but at least the option to travel was there in the first place. All we’ve had is a farcical Green List that was contradicted by the overriding message that, despite its existence, we still shouldn’t travel for non-essential reasons.

Travel has been an afterthought for this government for the entirety of the crisis. Each promised deadline has brought nothing but disappointment, from the much-delayed announcement of the Green List to the complete lack of updates. It seems that every major decision is put on the backburner until other countries make their call first, and then the implementation of any plan is delayed for so long that it’s all rendered useless anyway.

But now even the government seems to be admitting defeat, and conceding to what we have known all along – the Green List simply isn’t working. Instead, the new focus is on the adoption of the proposed EU-wide traffic light system, to be (hopefully) finalised on October 13. But even that doesn’t fill me with hope. The message now is that while the system may be agreed upon next week, it may not come into effect here for some time.

Had this – or a more effective Green List – come into play in the summer months when infection rates were far lower, we would at least have had a blissful few months of exploration available to us, before a winter of misery. We could have hunkered down on a Greek island, or spent our days tipsy on wine in Provence, and at least had some kind of reprieve before the whole miserable process starts all over again. We could have made the most of things while case numbers were dwindling, instead of waiting for a better outcome that never materialised.

After all, while our numbers have admittedly skyrocketed in recent weeks, this has all happened in the absence of international travel. Cases have been increasing even with our stringent rules in place – bear in mind the wet pubs in Dublin are still closed, seven months after the lockdown was initially brought into effect. We’ve effectively been in some state of lockdown since March, and where has that left us?

It’s not just the fact that we can’t travel (though I’m currently so stir crazy that I’m actively fantasising about the middle seat on a stag-packed Ryanair flight to Magaluf). Expenditure by foreign visitors to Ireland is estimated to be around €5.8 billion (£5.2bn) a year, and that’s an industry that has been brought to its knees. Dublin Airport is a ghost town. The restaurant industry has been decimated. The country’s hotels are running at occupancy rates so miniscule they have no choice but to shut up shop, particularly now they can only welcome guests who reside in the same county.

That’s right – the entire country is now at a Level 3 lockdown, meaning we cannot currently leave the counties in which we live. Which makes the whole concept of a Green List, or the potential adoption of an EU traffic light system, a moot point – we can’t go anywhere, even if we technically had the option. The tourism businesses across the country that have clawed their way through the summer months are now facing a long and arduous winter, without even domestic visitors to keep things ticking over. It’s impossible to see how most will survive.

So, once again, the long and drawn out decision making by the powers that be is going to be rendered useless. Whatever verdict is finally landed upon doesn’t matter – we’re going to be stuck here either way.