Pandemic times in Ireland and Germany

There is great controversy in Ireland at present about the rollout of the Covid vaccination and the rules and regulations surrounding the pandemic.

A similar conversation and controversy is happening in Germany. But in Germany MPs in the governing CDU party have been accused of taking €850,000 in kickbacks on PPE procurement last year.

German President Frank Walter Steinmeier referred to the fraud scandal as  'shameful' and being a 'poison for democracy.

The President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble said it 'was simply obscene and not compatible with a parliamentary mandate'.

Anyone listening to German conversations on the pandemic would notice the similarities between what is happening in Ireland and Germany. 

The Markus Lanz ZDF programme is similar to Prime Time and the similarities between both programmes is striking. All the same issues are aired.

Indeed, Ireland right now seems to be in a lead position. At least so far, there has been no signs of any extensive fraud.

Munich, Dresden and Stuttgart were among the cities where there were anti-Covid regulation marches yesterday. The Dresden demonstration was the largest and the most violent.

The daily death rate in Brazil is currently running at 2,000.

The Irish bishops should not have asked us to lobby our TDs to relax Covid rules and regulations.

Figures are surging in Italy, increasing in Germany and our figures are beginning to show an upward trend.

Today there are elections in the two German states of Baden-Würtemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, where the CDU are expected to lose votes. 

Unfortunately, it might well be an opportunity for the far-right AfD to take advantage of the CDU's weakness. But most likely the Greens and the SPD will retain their power and may even gain votes.