“Sufficient progress” was made to begin easing Covid-19 restrictions on Monday

Additional reports: Paul Hosford, Aoife Moore

Ireland will take its first step towards normalcy today after 10 weeks of closure, as the Cabinet will approve the lifting of restrictions on personal freedoms starting Monday.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar noted that enough progress has been made and high-level government sources have confirmed that barring a disaster, ministers will give the green light to a recommendation to move to phase one of the Covid-19 restrictions exit.

This will mean that starting Monday:

• Up to four people who do not live together can meet outdoors while being kept at least two meters apart.
• Attendance at funerals will be maintained to a maximum of 10 people.
• Garden centers, farmers markets, hardware and home goods will be reopened, as well as opticians, motor and bicycle repair shops, and phone repair shops.
• Up to 100,000 construction workers will return to work.
• Tennis courts and golf courses can also reopen where social distancing can be applied.

At the Dail, Mr. Varadkar said that he and his ministers are “increasingly confident” that we will be able to move to phase one on Monday.

High-level government sources declared last night that the restrictions will be lifted after significant progress has been made in suppressing the virus.

Confirmation of the easing of the restrictions comes as tensions between the Medical Director and the HSE chief arose over the country’s ability to screen 100,000 people per week for Covid-19.

Dr. Tony Holohan said he did not publicly announce a goal of 100,000 Covid-19 tests per week to pressure the HSE.

Letters released Thursday by HSE CEO Paul Reid to Jim Breslin, Secretary of the Department of Health, dated April 19, state that Reid was “extremely disappointed” with Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan.

Speaking as 10 other deaths from the virus were announced, with a total of 1,506 deaths from the disease in Ireland, Dr. Holohan said it was not a case that attempted to publicly influence the speed with which HSE increased its testing. . Dr. Holohan said the figure was discussed by NPHET and was reported to HSE.

“There have been communication difficulties and so on, but you are talking about an NPHET meeting that dates back almost a month,” he said.

“It would be implausible to think that there were no disagreements from time to time.” Dr. Holohan said there were stresses in any high pressure work scenario and that in some cases it can guarantee better work. He said that Mr. Breslin had responded to the letter, but was not aware of the content of the letter.

Commenting on the release of the letter, HSE CEO Paul Reid said such tensions between the department and HSE are expected.

“It would be silly if I thought there would be no tension between a major agency and a department and that there will be more,” Reid said.

“The reality is that what we were working on then, of course, was tension, but it was about making sure we had capacity.”

“There have absolutely been intermediate tensions, many tensions at various stages like large agencies working with departments, but the result has been what we wanted to achieve.”