Covid-19: Taoiseach confirms restaurants and gastropubs to close before New Year's Eve

Micheál Martin has said "Level 3 plus" restrictions will be implemented earlier than had been expected due to rising Covid cases. Picture: Pexels

Restaurants and gastropubs are to close before New Year's Eve and visits will be limited to one household under escalated Covid restrictions, the Taoiseach has confirmed.

Micheál Martin has said "Level 3 plus" restrictions will be implemented earlier than had been expected due to rising Covid cases.

"I am worried about the growing numbers, we have to be worried about them because one thing we know about this virus is that when it gets to a certain level, it increases exponentially after that."

Confirming that stricter measures will be introduced "before New Year's Eve", Mr Martin said: "We want to give people a meaningful Christmas, that will happen and I think from mental wellbeing purposes, and just families meeting, that's important, but people need to mind themselves, people need to really do the essentials in terms of wearing masks and so on."

Mr Martin said he wants to "move early" to avoid pressures seen in Northern Ireland where hospitals are at overcapacity and ambulances have been seen queuing up outside healthcare facilities.

He said he couldn't preempt a Government decision but the "strong likelihood" and the measures he will be recommending to Cabinet include the closure of hospitality, inter-county travel stopped and visits down to one other households instead of the current three.

The Government will consult with other experts, including the CSO, to collect as much information as possible, before signing off on any measures next week.

The Taoiseach said there is a "difficult balance" to get right regarding restrictions as "there's only so much people can actually take".

But Mr Martin said the spikes seen in the US and Canada after the Thanksgiving celebrations had been closely monitored and he warned that "we can't be blind to those experiences either".

Acknowledging the difficulties faced by the hospitality, arts and entertainment sectors, Mr Martin said the "entire objective" of the Government has been to keep those businesses and sectors viable so that when we get past Covid they can re-emerge, rejuvenate and grow.

"We will again examine our business supports to make sure that they are achieving that objective and that they will achieve that objective, the government is under no illusions about the enormity and severity of the impact on the hospitality sector and related sectors like the arts and entertainment."

The Government will consult with other experts, including the CSO, to collect as much information as possible, before signing off on any measures next week.

He told Newstalk Breakfast that supports will be kept going "well into the middle of next year, if not beyond."

Mr Martin said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had provided a rough estimate of the rollout of vaccines at a meeting of leaders last week.

"January, February you are looking at lower volumes of vaccines around Europe, but the priority then being nursing home residents and healthcare workers. 

"Picking up in March and April and then May, June, July being very important months where you have very high volumes coming through. Then into the August period you are into open access to the vaccine," he said.

Mr Martin advised people to act as if they have the virus and they don't want to spread it to others.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that social contacts had “significantly increased” over the past seven days, but they needed to be reduced to avoid greater risks from Covid-19.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, Dr Holohan said there had been “too much social contact” in the past two weeks, and the Reproduction rate was probably higher than 1.3 as the effect of recent social contacts had yet to be seen.

Dr Holohan also denied that any sector was being “picked on”.

The more interactions in social settings where alcohol was consumed does lead to people being less cautious about adhering to advice and keeping distances, he said.

Data had shown that social contacts had significantly increased in recent days, he said and there was a need to reduce opportunities for social contact, in particular indoors.

It was difficult to maintain public health advice when the use of alcohol came into play, he warned. If given the opportunity the virus would transmit very quickly. 

There was still time to take action to stop the rise in Covid-19 cases, so that further restrictions would not have to be imposed, he added.

Earlier on Newstalk Breakfast Dr Holohan warned that the country could not afford “to do” Christmas or New Year’s in the usual way. 

The easing of restrictions for two weeks over the holiday period was “too long” especially given the increased level of socialising