Ireland’s exit from lockdown will not mean ‘return to normal life’

Changes to the Government’s roadmap to exiting lockdown will not mean “a return to life as we knew it”, a senior official has warned.

At the Government's morning Covid-19 briefing on Monday, assistant secretary general at the Department of Taoiseach Liz Canavan said the Cabinet will meet later this week to decide whether the country can safely enter phase three which will see the vast majority of the economy reopen from June 29th.

Ms Canavan said that while the accelerated measures announced last week are welcome “we are not there yet.”

“We still have to see the full impact of the lifting of restrictions in phase two. We will have that data later this week and Government will meet again to consider whether we move forward to phase three. We’ve heard news again this morning about how quickly this disease can resurge. So we need to constantly assess the impact of what we’re seeing in the data here in Ireland.

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“Everything we heard on Friday is very welcome news but it doesn’t mean that the virus has gone away. And these changes do not signal a return to life as we knew it. The issue is that this disease is highly infectious.

“As government steps back population wide restrictions we’re asking you to step up for yourself, your family, and your community. We’re asking business owners and service providers to think about how they’re protecting customers and clients. We’re asking you to know how to assess the risk of a particular activity or event, and make an informed decision as to whether it’s safe to participate.

“For a great many people, it is a mild illness. But as too many families out there know, for others it is not.”

She said that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has on Monday issued payments of €163.1m to 465,900 people for the weekly Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment. This represents a decrease of 32,800 on the number of people paid last week.

There are now over 61,800 employers who have registered with the Revenue Commissioners for the temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme with at least one subsidy being paid in respect of over 551,800 people under that scheme since it began.

Ms Canavan also said the Government is expecting to begin a phased reintroduction of the national screening service programs by the end of the summer and screening invitations will also be issued on a phased basis according to clinical prioritisation.