Chapter 1: What are the current issues surrounding the MV Hondius cruise ship?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
We go to the cruise ship, which is stricken with Hantavirus. The regional government of Spain's Canary Islands has opposed the docking of the cruise ship. We did hear that they would welcome the cruise ship overnight, but that has changed in the last hour or so. Cliona O'Flynn, journalist and broadcaster in Spain, joins me on the line. Good morning, Cliona.
Morning, Clare. How are you?
I'm good. What has happened?
Well, from what I gather, the boat is still, the ship is still destined to arrive here because, you know, the Spanish national government does have the ability to kind of put its foot down and say that, The ship has the right. The Spanish government has always said this is a moral and legal obligation for Spain to allow the ship to dock on the Canary Islands.
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Chapter 2: Why has the regional government of the Canary Islands opposed the ship's docking?
And geographically, the Canary Islands will be the first port of call on its way up the west coast of Africa. What you do have is in the background, you have the regional Canary government led by Fernando Clavico has been opposing this because he feels he was in Brussels yesterday as well, speaking to the European Commissioner for Transport yesterday.
He has been saying, listen, the boat should just travel straight to the Netherlands because it is operating under a Dutch flag. He feels there's no need for it to stop in the Canary Islands.
But the Spanish government has, you know, acceded to the request from the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and said, no, it is docking in the Canary Islands. And it was confirmed about an hour ago that it will be Tenerife. And in fact, you know, the local TV stations already have their
The report is down at the docks, even though the ship won't arrive for another couple of days. So my understanding is that the national government say so overrides that of the regional government because this would be seen as a national matter. in replying to the World Health Organization.
But what you will have now is you have the regional government head saying he wants an urgent meeting with Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish PM, because what has not been clarified, he says, is how the local population will be protected from any potential transmission of virus from the passengers.
because we still haven't got a very clear view of how non-infected passengers or passengers who don't seem to be infected will be transported from the ship and where will they go to immediately? Will they go to a hospital for a check? Will there be a sanitation unit set up at the dock? Will they be isolated in hotels as happened during COVID? Or will they be brought to planes?
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Chapter 3: What is the importance of the Spanish national government's decision regarding the ship?
And if they're brought to planes, will they be planes that are specifically designated for to bring these people to their individual countries. Because I can't imagine that you're going to have Jet 2 Ryanair and Aer Lingus agreeing to take passengers from these ships, you know, onto a regular flight that's going from Tenerife to their home destinations. So a lot of things still to be clarified.
Yeah. So and he I mean, understandably, the regional leader saying that he feels there isn't sufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety. Another element to this, though, is the political rivalry between Fernando Clavijo and the Spanish prime minister. They're on opposite sides, aren't they?
Very much so. Clavico is from the conservative wing of Spanish politics, from the Partido Popular, which would be the right-wing party. And Pedro Sánchez is the leader of the Socialist Party, the PSOE. I mean, there were rumblings yesterday even that one of the reasons that Sánchez had said the ship would go to the Canary Islands was
is that there are regional elections taking place soon in Andalusia, and that would be where the ship might dock if it was to go up to the Spanish mainland. So, you know, all sorts of barbs are being fired from different political parties, which is a real shame because what we are looking at is a humanitarian question rather than one of politics.
And I mean, certainly as a journalist working here, I do think It's a shame that any regional politics should be coming into play when really the real question is, how do we help the passengers who are on this ship? Where is the best place that they can go to dock on their way home? I mean, I live here, so, you know, I'm as at risk of infection as anybody else.
But I would feel that if the right protections are in place in terms of protocols for getting people on and off the boats and from what I gather the European Centre for Health for Disease Control and Prevention will be across those protocols. I don't see why the ship can't dock here if it is
the best place for it to dock on the way home because we do have, you know, top class hospital facilities here in Tenerife. But I think during the next four days when the ship is making its way up the coast, who knows what kind of decisions might be made and overturned.
OK, so is it a matter of hours before it gets to Tenerife or days, as you say? No, days.
It's days. I mean, I think three to four days is what they're saying at the moment. In the meantime, there's another question mark, Clare, because Last night we heard that an air ambulance was evacuating the very sick British doctor who is on the ship. Now, we heard he was being evacuated straight to La Candelaria, which is the main hospital here in the north of Tenerife.
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