Taoiseach Micheál Martin has announced that because a newer, more virulent strain of COVID-19 has reached Ireland and is spreading at a rate that has "surpassed the most pessimistic models available to us", Level 5 lockdown restrictions will be reinstated until at least 31 January 2021.
Level 5 restrictions include, with only a few exceptions:
- Hotel leisure stays are banned.
- Restaurants - including those inside hotels - may only offer takeaway or delivery.
- No visitors are permitted to private homes or gardens.
- No social or family gatherings should take place, indoors or outdoors.
- Everyone should stay within 5km of home - no non-essential travel.
- Public transport to operate at 25% capacity for essential travel only.
- Retail stores, gyms, museums, galleries and cultural attractions must close.
- Travel to the Ireland from the UK and South Africa is banned until at least 7 January.
- School reopening delayed to 11 January.
Mr. Martin acknowledged that response to COVID-19 "is costing Billions of Euro" but that the most important shared responsibility to the people of Ireland is to protect lives, and that he is confident that by the end of January "tens of thousands of our most vulnerable citizens and our healthcare workers will have been vaccinated."
On 2 December 2020, Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons said in a speech to the Oireachtas Tourism Committee that recovery of Irish tourism could take 5 years or more. It's sad that this new setback will likely extend the recovery period even further.
