Large numbers (estimated at around 6k) turned up for the peaceful protest against oppressive government restrictions and mandates over COVID-19 on Saturday, August 22nd at Customs House, Dublin.
The non-political event was organised by Health Freedom Ireland and Yellow Vest Ireland to voice concerns regarding government mandates, demanding transparency, proportionality of decisions and accountability by government officials and advisors.
Expert speakers in attendance on behalf of Health Freedom Ireland were:
- Prof. Dolores Cahill, (Multi award winning Molecular Biologist and Immunologist holding the position of Full professor of Translational Services at UCD School of Medicine), who pioneered research in her field at the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Genetics in Berlin, Germany and has served as expert in the EU Commission for over 20 years.
- Dr Marcus De Brun MD (Biologist and practising GP), who resigned from the Irish Medical Council in protest over the government’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes earlier this year.
- Una Mc Gurk (Barrister & Senior Counsel) spoke about the impact of mandating masks without conclusive evidence and made an argument for why PCR tests should not be used as diagnostic tools1.
The Yellow Vest Ireland speakers were:
- Ben Gilroy, anti-eviction and civil rights activist who spoke about constitutional rights.
- Michael Leahy, speaking as a human rights and mental health advocate focused on the impact of serious mental health issues such as suicide.
- Ken Duffy motivational and education speaker and mental health advocate, spoke about human rights and homelessness in Ireland.
- Paul Gough is a realist who started recording current commentary videos on the YouTube channel DiYShow to counter and compliment the one-sided media reporting around the COVID-19 situation.
https://www.facebook.com/IrishVaccinationAwareness/videos/1546126392226911/?v=1546126392226911
Maeve Murran kicked off the event with a moving speech. She provided the number of deaths from all causes obtained via FOI from the General Registrar’s Office (GRO) ending with a poignant ceremony of light and minute of silence for all who died. Maeve informed those in attendance that there had been 13449 all-cause deaths from January to May this year. This represents less than the average all-cause death figure for the same period over the last five years according to official GRO death certification figures.
The minute of silence was followed by a beautiful rendition of Nessun Dorma.
“I might not agree with everything you have to say but I will defend to the death your right to say it”
Brian Rose freedomplatform.tv
In this spirit Health Freedom Ireland invited the speakers on the day to give their perspectives on the current situation. We applaud them for their courage to speak their truth at a time when it is challenging to do so.
Some key points on the day were:
- Dolores Cahill pointed out that there is a huge discrepancy between how we treat this infectious disease (COVID-19) and other high consequence infectious diseases2 like Tuberculosis (TB). TB kills 1.5 million people per year worldwide (WHO statistics). To date the COVID-19 death rate is 819,430 worldwide and rapidly decreasing. This in comparison does not warrant a lockdown and destruction of our economy, communities, health screening…
- Prof. Cahill pointed out that there are proven treatments which can be used as a preventative and treatment when started in the early stages. These include Hydroxychloroquine in combination with Zinc and Azithromycin and a steroid treatment which can help prevent deaths. Also focusing on supporting one’s immune system with good nutrition and adequate Vitamins D & C can lead to better long term outcomes.
- Dr. Marcus DeBrun called for an independent inquiry into the government’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 situation in nursing homes where most of the deaths occurred. We have an obligation to seek justice for the elderly who died in nursing homes alone.
- Una McGurk asked why the government was mandating masks without adequate scientific evidence for efficacy of mask wearing by the healthy public. Currently, the WHO website reads: ‘At present, there is no direct evidence (from studies on COVID-19 and in healthy people in the community) on the effectiveness of universal masking of healthy people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.’3
- This point was corroborated by Dr. DeBrun who reminded us that the government is aware that the recommendation for mask wearing by the healthy public is not evidence-based as pointed out by their independent advisor Prof. Carl Heneghan4 on 13th of August this year at the DÁIL ÉIREANN Special Committee on Covid-19 Response.
- Ken Duffy shared with us that more homeless people have died on the streets this year, compared to the previous two years. 11 homeless died in the last month alone which is more than the number of COVID deaths for the same period. Through his powerful and personal account he demonstrated how it is possible to become homeless through no fault of your own. Keeping small businesses closed for months on time, people losing their jobs and livelihoods and a continuation of evictions will undoubtedly lead to more homelessness.
“Can homelessness be fixed? Absolutely, yes, it can… it can be fixed… the money was always there, they’ve proven that… All it takes is for our government to stop ignoring homelessness, it is a crisis. It’s an Irish humanitarian crisis, people are starving and dying on our streets. The government boasted recently of having a 2bn euro rainy day fund. That would go a long, long way to solving homelessness in Ireland. How hard does it have to rain?”
Ken Duffy
And this is not the only concern regarding the government’s failure to look after the safety and wellbeing of all the people of Ireland. There should be no bias in whose life is worth saving and whose life is not. Paul Gough pointed out another notable discrepancy between the government’s promises and actions.
“The Irish government has lied to us again and said there would be no repossessions while the pandemic is raging. So is the pandemic over? Is that why you’re taking homes off people now?”
Paul Gough
- Ben Gilroy spoke about the arbitrary nature of government measures in response to the COVID-19 situation with no basis in science. While some measures might have been deemed as necessary precautions in March or April when we had no information on the virus, we now know better. Examples of non evidence based recommendations are being allowed to consume a 9 EUR meal in a pub for up to 105 minutes with only 6 people per table; mandating masks in shops and not a post office; being able to congregate with a maximum of 6 people at home but 50 at a wedding.
- Una McGuirk also shared that the government’s narrative had changed from deaths and hospitalisations to rising case numbers which coincide with a rise in testing. The PCR test used to establish if someone is COVID-19 positive is not supposed to be used as a diagnostic tool. It is important to understand that positive tests do not equal active infections and that virus RNA can be detected by the PCR tests months after an infection has subsided. In addition it is not specific to COVID-19, it detects Coronavirus in general of which there are many including the common cold.
“PCR detects a very small segment of the nucleic acid which is part of a virus itself. The specific fragment detected is determined by the somewhat arbitrary choice of DNA primers used which become the ends of the amplified fragment. “
Kary Mullins (Inventor of the PCR test)
This view is supported by Kary Mullins who invented the PCR test and several other scientists who work with PCR testing in other circumstances.
“PCR is intended to identify substances qualitatively, but by its very nature is unsuited for estimating numbers. Although there is a common misimpression that the viral load tests actually count the number of viruses in the blood, these tests cannot detect free, infectious viruses at all; they can only detect proteins that are believed, in some cases wrongly, to be unique to HIV. The tests can detect genetic sequences of viruses, but not viruses themselves.”
John Lauritsen in December 1996 about HIV and AIDS
The phenomenon described by Una is referred to “casedemic” by some. Ivor Cummins explains this well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU3OibcindQ
Some pertinent questions that remain unanswered were:
Why have health screenings not fully resumed yet, given that the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients has been below 30 in the entire country since 25th of June?
Why can’t we see the government’s evidence for the continued restrictions and mask effectiveness data as well as arbitrary measures like the 9 Euro meal or recommendations on varying maximum participant numbers for different types of events?
What is the impact on the mental health of the population, especially our young and elderly?
What are the daily suicide deaths due to isolation, loss of jobs and homes?
What are the daily cancer deaths due to delayed diagnosis, screening programmes and treatments?
What evidence supports the safety of long-term mask wearing by our secondary students and workforce?
The thousands of people attending on Saturday included many elderly people, families with young children and people of many different ethnicities who came together peacefully to learn, support each other and to voice opposition to current and pending restrictions.
The sentiment of the day was quoted aptly by one of the participants
‘It was a moving day where we were educated by some of the foremost medical experts, advocates and legal professionals and also to have our voices heard. Perhaps most gratifying was how so many different individuals and groups were able to put politics aside in order to join together for this important cause.’
Protest participant
Another stated:
On behalf of Health Freedom Ireland we would like to say:
‘We are also very grateful for An Garda Síochana’s presence on the day and their involvement in restoring order. We have no association with those involved in the clash and we welcome their investigations. An Garda Síochána understand better than most our constitutional right to peaceful assembly.’
Health Freedom Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdk80BP7b5U
