Covid-19: No plans for a 'circuit breaker' lockdown 

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said a 'circuit breaker' may be needed at some point, but Taoiseach Micheál Martin poured cold water on the concept.

The Government has sought to play down the perceived "mixed messages" on a "circuit breaker" style lockdown.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that a severe lockdown could be the way to quickly halt virus spread.

"It (a circuit breaker) may well be needed at some point," he said.

On the same day, Taoiseach Micheál Martin poured cold water on the "experimental” concept.

“I’m not convinced that any such move would be a temporary move and I think we need to be clear with people on that. 

"In other words, the idea of locking everything down for two weeks and being able to come back as normal, I’m not so sure that’s a runner,” he said.

Sources within the Taoiseach's office have sought to dampen any criticism of mixed messages from government and say they were informed Mr Varadkar would be involved in an article.

A lot of people are making a big deal about it, but as the Tánaiste pointed out, in essence, a circuit breaker is the same as level five.

"That's always been an option in the plan, the issue is the "short, sharp" element of it. In theory, it sounds great, in practice we're unsure of how it would go.

"The concern is whether it will be a short period. The March lockdown was supposed to be three weeks and ended up being months."

Government sources say they want to continue with the country in level three, and give the restrictions time to take effect.

Dublin, which was the first county to into level three, has shown some signs of numbers stabilising.

"We might need the circuit-breaker, we can't predict the future, but we want to stick with a graduated response if possible, that was the whole reasoning for the plan," the source added.

"So much of this is dictated by the virus, if things are going wrong, we'll keep looking at it and decide, this is monitored daily, the ideal would be to try and let it sit for a week but if things get worse, decisions will be made."

Recommendations that could see border countries move up a level, which has been advised from Northern Ireland's CMO are also under consideration as the virus continues to rise in both counties in the Republic and the North.