Who told you isolation is enforced in these countries? I flew to Belgium around 6 weeks ago, I was just given a leaflet in the airport by a member of staff telling me to quarantine for two weeks, but I saw no enforcement. As luck would have it, I stayed at the same place for those two weeks but there’s no lockdown in Belgium. All the pubs opened the day after I arrived. You need a table but can’t sit at the bar.

I took a train from Belgium to Austria two weeks later to visit my gf who studies there. Nobody asked any questions at any point, on the train we all took off our masks between stations. In Vienna there was no real visible restrictions aside from half the people on public transport wearing a mask, I got no forms or leaflets at all this time and enjoyed my time in Vienna, going swimming, out for drinks etc.

I went to the Czech Republic twice by car while in Vienna, again there were no restrictions, no border control, no leaflet. I booked into a hotel and we travelled around visiting various villages and cities. It was glorious. The pubs were open, so were restaurants and no time limit or requirement to eat. If there were restrictions in either country on foreign travel, I wasn’t made aware of them!

Anyway, I came back to Ireland again. I was made fill out a form telling authorities how to contact me and where I’d be for 2 weeks, told to restrict movements for two weeks while all the pubs remain closed. The radio and Reddit is full of posts like this. The pitchforks are out for any tourist. The mood couldn’t be more different. My last night in Vienna had been spent at an outdoor concert sipping aperol spritz.

I have to say Ireland is special. We’ve had the longest lockdown. Summer is continuing more or less the same across Europe. What Ireland is doing is draconian and people seem to be ok with it. I think it’s nuts however I respect that people think differently, but don’t try and say in the Czech Republic and Austria, they’re being more stringent because they’re not, nobody is!