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Gastronomic restaurants and pubs will be closed from lunch on December 24, according to plans to be presented to the Cabinet tomorrow.
Travel within the county will be prohibited beginning at midnight on December 26.
The travel ban to and from Britain is also expected to last until December 31.
Cabinet will discuss a final decision on home visit limits.
Nonessential retail will remain open, but personal services like hair salons and barbers will close. Gyms and sports such as golf and tennis will be allowed.
The restrictions are described as Level 5 minus.
The decision comes after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Covid-19.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and the leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, were informed by the medical director Tony Holohan about the significant increase in new cases of Covid-19.
Holohan told the meeting that Level 5 restrictions will be needed after Christmas to stop the spread of the virus.
The meeting came after the government banned flights and passenger flights from Britain due to the emergence of a new, more rapidly spreading strain of the coronavirus.
Restaurants and pubs were supposed to stay open until December 30 and inter-county use was expected to be allowed until January 6. However, the rise in new cases coupled with concerns about the new strain have forced the government to reconsider its approach to the Christmas period.
The Cabinet will meet in the morning to discuss a memorandum outlining the latest measures.
Irish Restaurant Association Chief Executive Adrian Cummins said the restrictions will be a “devastating and crushing blow” to businesses.
“The short notice will mean thousands of euros of stock per location lost to waste,” Cummins said.
“We are now asking the government to provide a financial aid package for the restaurant sector, which has stabilized economically for the last 9 months.
“The package must be specific, impactful and substantial to support 180,000 restaurant and hospitality workers and 20,000 companies,” he added.
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