Donnelly: 'Nobody wants restrictions in place, but the advice is to slow down again'

Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly: “This is not done lightly, we really do understand that there are publicans all across this country who are waiting and hoping that they'll be open on Monday."

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has defended the decision to pause the lifting of Covid-19 regulations saying “when things looked good there was a public health rationale for accelerating therefore we did accelerate, now that the R rate has gone back up public health advice is to slow it back down again.

“Nobody wants these restrictions in place,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.