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The Taoiseach has told his party friends that people will be able to enjoy a pleasant, safe and meaningful Christmas.
Micheál Martin said the government will make a decision next week on how the country will exit the Level 5 restrictions in early December.
He told the Fianna Fail parliamentary party that they will try to trust that people will be kept safe over the Christmas period.
Relaxing the restrictions will be discussed in the Dáil on Tuesday before the government makes a decision at the end of the week.
Martin suggested that the decision-making process will not be easy, but said that the country would emerge from the restrictions as the third best in Europe when it comes to addressing Covid-19.
Earlier, the meeting heard calls from MP Barry Cowen that there should be immediate consultation with the hospitality industry.
He said this could focus on writing new guidelines, if needed, to allow customers to eat and drink indoors.
However, he said it was too early to make a decision on reopening at this stage.
At a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Minister Simon Harris said it was vital that as many additional people as possible be hired to carry out contact tracing.
He said there had been a lot of support from the army in the past and asked if it could provide assistance again.
The meeting heard criticism about the transfer of front-line health workers to contact search tasks.
Elsewhere in the Dáil, Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy said this week’s proposal to fine people who gathered to drink outside ran the risk of forcing them into more dangerous indoor environments.
He said knee-jerk reactions should be avoided.
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