Keep a Distance: Rinville Park. Where does it lead us?

By now, you’ve probably heard it a million times that to slow the COVID-19 pandemic, people need to adopt social distancing measures —
including remaining at least 2 meters apart from anyone they encounter outside their homes. The Irish experienced the most dramatic measures in Europe, with non-essential business shut nationwide and people told to stay at home. Many experts in Ireland questione the panic and government’s response of locking up Irish people.

This is what Rinville Park looks like today.

Rinville Park is situated in gently undulating terrain on the coast of Galway Bay, South of Galway City and Oranmore Town.

The park covers a walking trail, trails through the woods, a public playground, within the old walls of the garden you’ll find places for barbecues and places for campfires. There is also an outdoor gym and public toilets. The local landscape is enriched by two historical buildings: Rinville Castle and Rinville Hall.

When coming here it's easy to notice that Rinville Park is a great recreational spot for everyone. It’s a place where you can go to spend time actively, which translates into a healthy lifestyle and strengthening of the immune system. You don’t need to be a doctor to know that the stronger your immune system is, the milder the sickness or lack thereof. Therefore, to a logically thinking person, the decisions of the authorities to limit the access of such places for people who want to practice outdoor sports are completely incomprehensible. The ban on travelling more than five kilometres already disqualifies many people from coming here, but local politicians decided to make access to this place even more difficult by introducing absurd regulations, such as: blocking many parking spaces, designating one-way pedestrian traffic and an appeal not to stop during walks and not to talk to other people.The entire park is literally covered with posters informing about absurd regulations, which makes people not want to walk in such a place. Why is the government doing their best to keep us in our homes? Why do they not promote and enable us to lead a healthy lifestyle, eat healthy, spend time outdoors, in the gym, at the pool, etc.? They say they protect us from a virus. Really? Viruses were, are and will be and an immune system that is weakened by sitting at home and the lack of exercise certainly will not protect us from infection . So what's going on…?

Zachowaj dystans: Rinville Park. Dokąd to wszystko zmierza?
Do tej pory prawdopodobnie słyszeliście już z milion razy, że aby spowolnić rozprzestrzenianie się COVID-19, ludzie muszą zastosować środki dystansowania społecznego - wliczając w to także trzymanie sie co najmniej 2 metry od każdego, kogo spotka się poza domem. W związku z tym ludzie duża część z nas przebywa po prostu w domach. Nikt już nie podróżuje. Niegdyś oblegane przez turystów malownicze irlandzkie miasta świecą obecnie pustkami. W Irlandii mają miejsce jedne z najbardziej zaostrzonych restrykcji w Europie. W całym kraju zamknięto niepotrzebne interesy, i wszystkim kazano zostać w domu. Wielu ekspertów w Irlandii ma wątpliwości do tego rodzaju zastosowanej strategii.

Tak wygląda obecnie Rinville Park. Jest on położony jest w łagodnie pofałdowanym terenie nad brzegiem Zatoki Galway, na południe od Galway City i Oranmore Town.