Fine Gael Councilor Kenneth Egan Resigns From Party After Violating Covid-19 Guidelines

FINE Gael Councilor Kenneth Egan resigned from the party after violating the state’s Covid-19 health guidelines.

The former Olympic boxer, a councilor at Clondalkin in Dublin, spent his vacation in West Cork a week after returning from a boxing event in Essex this month, disobeying advice to restrict movement for 14 days.

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The Councilor’s resignation comes after Sinn Fein took the whip from Monaghan County Councilor Cathy Bennett for traveling to Lanzarote in Spain earlier this month.

The Social Democrats also removed the party whip from County Kildare Councilor Bill Clear after he also vacationed in Spain.

REPRESENTATIVE LIABILITY

The former Olympic boxer apologized for what he called a “big mistake” and said that public representatives have a responsibility to follow Covid-19 guidelines.

He said, “It just shouldn’t have happened. I made a big mistake and I’m sincerely sorry.

“To defeat this pandemic, everyone must obey public health guidelines. Public representatives have an even greater responsibility to do so and I failed in this regard.”

LAST COVID CASES

Tonight, the Department of Health confirmed 127 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. They also announced that there had been no new deaths related to Covid-19.

There have been 28,578 confirmed cases and 1,777 deaths in the country.

Of the cases reported today, 70 are men and 57 are women, with 80% under 45 years of age.

66 have been confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case.

8 cases have been identified as community transmission.

52 of the cases are in Dublin, 13 in Monaghan, 9 in Tipperary, 8 in Meath, 8 in Wexford, 8 in Roscommon and the remaining 29 are in Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Waterford, Westmeath and Wicklow.

WEEKEND WARNING

Acting Medical Director Dr. Ronan Glynn warned that if cases continue to rise, the number of people hospitalized with the virus will also increase.

He said: “While the number of people in critical care remains stable, we have seen another 8 people hospitalized in the last 24 hours.

“If the cases continue to increase, we will see an inevitable increase in the number of people hospitalized.

“We all have a role to play in preventing that from happening.”

As the weekend approaches, Dr. Glynn said that people should decrease their social contacts and continue to keep their guard up.

He urged: “This weekend it is vital that people do their part by reducing social contacts.

“Don’t let your guard down just because you run into people close to you.

“Remember that just because someone looks and feels good does not mean they are Covid free.”