Stephen Donnelly denies leaking level 5 Nphet recommendation

Stephen Donnelly: "I can assure you that I did not talk to any journalists about moving to level 4."

The Health Minister has strongly denied that he leaked a recommendation to move the country to level 5 Covid restrictions.

Speaking in the Dáil Stephen Donnelly said the Government has followed "much" of the advice provided by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) but said they did not believe the criteria to move to a lockdown had been met when it was recommended on Sunday night.