Éirígí activists distributed free face masks on trams and at LUAS stops in South Dublin on Tuesday morning (June 16). The initiative was undertaken as part of Éirígí’s work in the community and to highlight the failure of public transport providers and the state to provide passengers with masks.
Speaking from Dundrum, Éirígí’s local area representative Brian Leeson said, “The government messaging about masks and other face coverings has been confused, chaotic and contradictory since day one.
For three months we were told that only those who were sick with Covid-19 or those looking after people who were sick needed to wear masks. We were specifically told that the wearing of masks or face coverings at a community level had no role to play in slowing the spread of the virus.
This message remained unchanged despite the fact that China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and other countries that were successfully slowing the spread of the virus were all strongly encouraging or mandating the wearing of masks on public transport, in shops and other settings where social distancing is difficult.
And then in the last couple of weeks we’ve seen a dramatic u-turn, with the government and HSE now advocating for the wearing of masks and even going as far as critising people for not wearing them!
Activists at the Windy Arbour LUAS stop.
Éirígí first called for community-level wearing of masks and face coverings on April 3rd. This week we started distributing free masks to LUAS passengers as part of our community work in the Dundrum area and to highlight the fact that the LUAS operator, Transdev, and the state have made no meaningful effort to help passengers access masks.
In France, Italy, Spain and England transport operators and/or the state have handed out free masks to users of public transport. Nothing like this has happened in Ireland. Instead it has fallen to Éirígí to fill the gap left by transport operators and the state.
Operators of the LUAS, DART, trains and buses need to provide their passengers with either free or low-cost masks to ensure that public transport doesn’t become a vector for a resurgence of Covid-19 now or at some point in the future.
These operators are happy enough to take money off their passengers year in, year out. Now they also need to also take responsibility for ensuring the safety of their passengers”