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Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue has tested positive for coronavirus, his spokesman confirmed.
As a result, the embers of the Cabinet, including the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, now isolate themselves.
A McConalogue spokesperson confirmed that the Donegal representative tested positive for Covid-19.
“He isolates himself and follows all public health guidelines. He has shown no symptoms and will continue to isolate himself for the next period of time.”
The spokesperson confirmed that McConalogue tested positive this morning after testing yesterday.
McConalogue (43) is one of the youngest in Micheál Martin’s line-up and was recently in Brussels, being automatically tested on his return.
Yesterday he wore a cabinet-wide mask to pass new lockdown restrictions in light of a spike in cases.
He was later seen shopping in central Dublin, wearing a mask all the time. McConalogue also stopped by to speak with Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd, with both men wearing masks at all times.
A government statement read: “A cabinet member tested positive for COVID-19.
“According to the public health councils, all the ministers are restricting their movements while waiting for a test and the Covid result.”
All the ministers are undergoing urgent tests today, with vehicles from the national ambulance service dispatched to their location.
Results are expected later tonight.
McConalogue was appointed Minister of Agriculture on September 2, which means he has been in office for less than three months.
All government ministers are undergoing urgent testing by public health officials, with the goal of getting the results back to the people today.
One minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the testing arrangements for all members, including the Taoiseach, were being carried out as a “precaution.”
However, he added that while the infected minister attended cabinet yesterday, all ministers sit more than two meters apart at cabinet meetings, which are held in a large, airy room in Dublin Castle.
Therefore, the chances of more ministers being infected are believed to be low, based on the advice given, the minister added.
Minister McConalogue is believed to have spoken in cabinet and showed no sign of discomfort. It is understood that he does not show any serious symptoms.
Previously there was a scare in September when Health Minister Stephen Donnelly feared he had contracted the virus and the entire cabinet was briefly suspended, while the Dáil was also suspended for a short time.
Minister Eamon Ryan said he received word that a colleague tested positive when he arrived at government buildings for an interview with journalists.
He had to return home and the press conference was held online.
Ryan said that he will follow all HSE advice to restrict his movements.
He told reporters: “I absolutely wish Charlie the best and a speedy and safe recovery from the virus.
“The same for all my colleagues and for everyone else. “There are a thousand families in this country waking up this morning from those figures of yesterday to that reality.
“My thoughts and good wishes go out to each of those families.
“And that is why we have to act in difficult circumstances like we do.”
He said yesterday’s cabinet meeting took place in a large conference room in a “safe environment” at Dublin Castle and estimated the social distancing of “almost three or four meters.”
He said his memory was that the meeting lasted about two hours and “probably a little less than that.”
He said: “We have tried whenever possible in government buildings or other meetings to try to keep them within two hours of health councils.
“It was yesterday over there or there.”
Yo Ryan said, “Usually people [at Cabinet meetings] don’t wear masks, but people sometimes do and certainly when entering and leaving the room or any other engagement, people wear masks.
“But because people tend to take off their masks when they speak, that’s often the approach.”
He said he recalled that McConalogue was wearing a mask, but added that he did not want to offer: “too many personal details because I think there is also a confidentiality issue surrounding some of this.”
He said he had no details on whether McConalogue was examined before or after the Cabinet.
He suggested that the test happened because, like him, McConalogue was in Brussels for the EU meetings last week.
“There is a protocol on the government ministers if you attend a council meeting that we have to attend; all the other council ministers I was in attended, it’s important and – Charlie would have been there for the fisheries council the night before , so in the normal course of events I imagine they would try it out as a routine as part of that process. That would be the normal protocol. “
A McConalogue spokesperson said that according to a government memorandum, Irish residents who travel abroad for an essential purpose, including cabinet ministers, and restrict their movements other than that purpose while abroad, should not be warned of to restrict your movement upon returning to Ireland.
“Therefore, he did not have to restrict his movements,” the spokesperson said.
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