Micheál Martin: 'The Covid situation is taking a turn for the worse'

Speaking in Brussels, Micheál Martin echoed the comments of the head of the HSE, Paul Reid, who said he was 'quite nervous' of the impact of the pandemic on the health service heading into winter months. Picture: Cate McCurry/PA

The Taoiseach has said the Government has concerns over Covid-19 heading into Christmas.

Speaking in Brussels, Micheál Martin echoed the comments of the head of the HSE, Paul Reid, who said he was "quite nervous" of the impact of the pandemic on the health service heading into winter months.

The chief executive of the HSE said surge capacity measures may be triggered if predictions of 150 people in intensive care are met, impacting other areas of the healthcare system.

Some 437 people with the virus are in hospital, 88 of those are in ICU, and the numbers are expected to increase.

"As we go into the winter we are worried and we are concerned, in terms of the trajectory of the disease," Mr Martin said.

"As I said repeatedly and consistently, Covid-19 has many twists and many turns and it's very clear that last week Government officials were alerted by public health officials that the situation had taken a turn for the worse.

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"We're going to do everything we can, my main focus has to be supporting our health service."

The Taoiseach rejected the idea that the Government had no contingency plan for the nightlife sector ahead of reopening on Friday night, amid confusion over last-minute guidelines sent out last night.

Mr Martin said the sector was "very happy" to be reopened.

"First of all, again, there was a number of options. One was to pause completely and I don't think that would have been something that everybody would have agreed with," he said.

"Covid has created the situation. The situation is taking a turn for the worse. I mean it's very straightforward. It's very difficult, it's very tough and challenging for all concerned. 

"But the key point is the Government decision facilitates a reopening within a certain restrictive environment because of Covid-19 and the idea of a contingency plan for the 'what if' was two weeks ago, and in our conversations with public health officials, things were going well.

The return to school was going well, that was the concern three weeks ago and it levelled off at that time.

"We're not living the way we lived before Covid and we have to adapt.

"I've heard feedback that quite a lot of nightclubs are very happy with the fact that they're reopening.

"The live entertainments have suffered more than most throughout the pandemic, people work in that sector, artists, performers have had a very, very, very tough time and what we're doing now is everything we possibly can to facilitate the return of live entertainment, nightclub and the night economy in a cautious way, because Covid is the factor here, and it's not Government, it's not the sector, it's a Covid pandemic, which means the responses are not the responses that we would normally be doing in the normal situation."