Government focus is on keeping schools open and ramping up booster programme – Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheál Martin pleaded with the public to 'hold the collective nerve'. File picture

The Taoiseach said the focus for Government was keeping schools open and does not envisage addressing the nation ahead of Christmas.

Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan are to meet with Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan on Tuesday evening, and said they all keep in touch almost on a daily basis now with the Minister for Health, Steven Donnelly, in regards to the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Dr Holohan said the Covid numbers on Tuesday suggest that about 14% of cases in Ireland are due to the Omicron variant.

He said that in line with the experience of many other countries, Ireland can expect this proportion to rise rapidly over the coming days.

The Taoiseach said a key focus for the Government was the booster vaccine.

"Obviously we want to tease things out tonight in terms of the impact of Omicron the potential impact of it, the degree of transmissibility and how we respond as a society and obviously the key initial focus is on the booster programme," Mr Martin said.

"We're going to have to talk through issues, first of all get Tony's perspective in terms of the latest ECDC report, their sense of how fast it's [Omicron] travelling and then transmitted to Ireland.

"We want to talk things through and in an informal way initially, and because it's important to learn and to evaluate what we've done so far, and I think there are lessons to be learned."

When asked if he would appear before the nation again, the Taoiseach said: "We've already made announcements.

"We've taken steps. We've already introduced restrictions, but as I've been saying consistently, I can't rule anything out. But what I am heartened by is that over the last two months, people have responded to public health messaging. 

The collective objective of all of us is to keep schools open, for one good reason is that the development of the child is very much at the centre of this and is best and optimally developed in a school setting. 

"The important thing is to keep the rhythm and the routine going and that is our agenda."

Mr Martin pleaded with the public to "hold the collective nerve".

"We have a very good booster programme out there – 1.2m people in the older age cohorts and people with underlying conditions vaccinated already, we're going to get more done more quickly, and people have adjusted their behaviour," he said.

The expansion of the vaccination programme will now see vaccination centres opening from 8am to 8pm. Government has also asked all GPs and pharmacies to participate in the vaccine programme, to help with the national effort to get people boosted.

The Taoiseach added that Omicron was a very transmissible variant and spreads "very fast and that is a threat to us", therefore people must adjust their behaviour.

"It's really about working collectively using our common sense in terms of personal behaviour and people are doing that already," he added.

"As we go through this, we need to adapt. We need to evaluate what we've performed in earlier phases and adjust accordingly and behave accordingly.

"What's interesting is since the decisions which were made earlier this month and in November, people have adjusted their behaviour and recent research  is showing that 61% of people have cancelled activities and that 81% of people during Christmas will adjust their behaviour.

We're two years into this pandemic. I think people do know what needs to be done.

"They are responding behaviourally in terms of reducing socialisation that has had an impact on the levelling out and reducing hospitalisations and ICU admissions and I pay tribute to people for that common sense approach to what is a very frustrating and long pandemic."