Irish influencer Louise Cooney has said she would “more than happy” to promote coronavirus guidelines to younger people.
The Limerick blogger told Lunchtime Live this afternoon that she would not charge a fee to keep her 210,000 Instagram followers informed about the latest public health advice.
It comes after the Taoiseach Micheál Martin told Pat Kenny that COVID-19 messaging was ‘not getting through’ to everyone in Ireland and said Government would consider recruiting influencers to communicate with younger people.
Speaking to Andrea Gilligan today, Ms Cooney said she would be happy to help.
“At first I thought, no,” she said. “But then I thought, you know what, we have this huge audience who are really engaged; I think we could really have a positive effect.
“But in terms of being paid, I personally would not take payment - and I would like to think that most influencers wouldn’t - because I just think it’s in the public’s interest.”
She said she would only get involved if officials could provide “very clear guidelines” on what is happening with the restrictions at any given time.
“I just think sometimes, with what we’re going through, it’s changing all the time,” she said.
“You just really would need clear guidelines to share and I would be more than happy to do that free of charge – It would be helping people and it would be helping my audience.”
On the same show, TV personality James Kavanagh said influencers could “absolutely” have a role in communicating the restrictions.
“I don’t think it’s wise to say, ‘oh no, they’re just silly influencers, sharing fashion and dancing around their kitchen, what can they do?’” he said.
“It’s like any show on TV, be it a comedy show or a radio station, they all have eyes on them or ears on them.
“It’s the exact same with someone who has X amount of followers on Instagram. People are paying attention, so why not. It’s just another platform, another avenue to get messages out.”
The entire country is expected to move to Level Three coronavirus restrictions in the coming days, with Cabinet set to reject calls for a move to the highest Level Five.
It means social and family gatherings will be banned and people will only be allowed visitors from one other household.
Restaurants, bars and café’s will be allowed to remain open; however, they will only be permitted to serve customers outdoors or through takeaway.
People will be banned from leaving their home county, unless they are travelling for work, transport or other essential reasons.
Public transport will be reserved essential workers and purposes and will be limited to 50% capacity.
You can listen back to the full conversation with Louise Cooney and James Kavanagh here:
