“It was just the two of us and he decides to be my doctor, be a policeman and a judge all at the same time and make the decision that I should be incarcerated.”
Séamus O’Laoí, author of Tales from the Lockdown
Such was the level of Covid hysteria in Ireland in March 2021 that daring to walk into a shop without a face mask was enough to create a scene and possibly land you in jail. Breathing had become a crime.
The Irish had lost the plot, whipped up by treacherous mainstream media personalities alongside a slew of TV experts, they falsely believed there was a deadly virus in the air that they could inhale and breathe out onto the next person, spreading illness and death. The movie Contagion had done its job, priming the minds of viewers into believing that every person they met could be a possible virus carrier and could kill them if they stood too close or breathed near them.
The general public was under the false impression that wearing a mask would stop this imaginary deadly virus in its tracks, even if it suffocated the wearer in the meantime. Those who succumbed to the brainwashing believed that everyone should wear a face mask. No excuses. Even children. Even babies. Even people with disabilities. Even the elderly on their death beds. They didn’t care. They were terrified of the mystery virus that had replaced the flu, had the same death rate and symptoms as the flu and could only be diagnosed with a fraudulent test that made dodgy people even more rich. Their fear was suffocating and they wanted everyone to go under with them, deep down into the abyss of insanity. No dissent allowed.
This was the prevailing sentiment when author Séamus O’Laoí (nom de plume) entered O’Donovan’s Off-Licence in Cork’s Summerhill on March 15, 2021 with the aim of purchasing two bottles of beer. What should have been a simple task quickly turned into a nightmare, as Seán found himself locked inside the shop with the cops on the way. All because he was breathing.
The shopkeeper (whose identity has been protected to spare his blushes) refused to serve him because he wasn’t wearing a mask. Séamus left the correct money on the counter to pay for the drinks and attempted to leave the shop with the beers but was blocked from exiting the premises. As you see in the video, the shopkeeper loudly proclaimed to the gardaí (Irish police) on the phone that he’d locked his customer inside the off-licence while falsely accusing him of assault which he later contradicts.
When the gardaí eventually arrived at the scene, instead of reprimanding the shopkeeper for imprisoning a customer against his will and falsely accusing him of assault, they fined €80 Séamus O’Laoí for ‘failing to wear a face mask in a designated premises’. He was one of 119 people to be handed such a penalty in Ireland that month alone in March 2021. Ireland was in a bad place
The case was later struck out in court but only after much unnecessary hassle and time-wasting.
This interview along with his book Tales from the Lockdown is a way for Séamus O’Laoí to express his shock at the behaviour of his fellow Irishmen and women during an episode of madness that destroyed relationships and many businesses. O’Donovan’s off-licence closed its doors after 31 years in September 2025. The Covid scam marked the beginning of the Great Reset where small to medium sized enterprises became a target for annihilation as Big Business bulldozed through for a future of zombie consumers tethered to a credit score system of points and discounts. Another trap.
The guy in the shop didn’t understand that at the time, clearly. He seemed to think his useless cloth mask was helping him stave off a deadly virus when all it was doing was cutting off the oxygen supply to his brain. In another dimension where common sense applies, his defence might be he wasn’t thinking straight, he could hardly breathe properly and had lost control of his senses. That’s why he locked his one customer in the shop and called the cops on him for the crime of breathing. The mask made me do it, your Honour.
The shopkeeper wasn’t the only one not thinking straight at the time, in fairness. The Irish were suffering from some kind of brain-rot, worse than any virus, real or imagined. They said nothing when a granny was thrown in the clanger for not wearing a mask while standing up in a restaurant. All the customers sitting down to eat didn’t have masks on, but Margaret Buttimer had made the error of entering Jakes Restaurant in Bandon breathing freely, no muzzle covering her face, an act of defiance against the absurdity of the time and she ended up behind bars with only a few crazy conspiracy theorists there to support her in her hour of need. The Irish in general still don’t acknowledge that travesty of justice and how Margaret Buttimer is owed a public apology and large sums of compensation.
We’ve a long way to go on this road to redemption and reconciliation.
Full interview with Séamus O’Laoí:
You can find Séamus O’Laoí’s book Tales from the Lockdown on
and on Amazon
