Ireland’s New Blockade Exit Plan: The Two Guarantees, The Pub & Restaurant Schedule And The Taoiseach Announcement

Ireland is likely to learn of the new plan to exit the blockade on Tuesday next week when the cabinet meets to discuss where the country is heading from here.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has already told the Irish Mirror in an exclusive interview a lot of what to expect, while also taking another hit on hospitality on Saturday.

The current expectation is that Ireland will have a new Living with Covid plan in the middle of next week, and it is already clear much of what will be in that plan.

Here’s everything we know so far;

Two guarantees in the new strategy

Two things that have been made very clear are that there will be no major changes, if any, on March 5, when the end of the shutdown was originally scheduled.

Second, the new plan will see “severe restrictions” until the end of April, with some hope that the country can begin to reopen again in May.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin told Ciara Phelan of the Irish Mirror earlier this week: “What will happen next will be modest, I would not exaggerate it in the sense of advertisements and so on.

“We are seeing a continuation of severe restrictions certainly through April.

“We will take a look at construction but again it will not be a full return to construction, we will assess what the public health council is.

“Certainly we have already indicated that beyond Easter we will see it again, but until the end of April we can see important restrictions and then we will review it because we will have to see where we are.”

Pubs and restaurants closed until mid-summer

Another guarantee, like it or not, is that the hospitality industry won’t open until mid-summer at the earliest.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Raidió na Gaeltachta on Saturday, Micheal Martin confirmed that due to the high number of cases and concerns about variants, it would be a long time before hospitality reopens.

The leader of Fianna Fail said: “” We do not anticipate that (reopening pubs, etc.) before the middle of the summer … what the public health authorities say is that we stay with this until the end of April, then we reflect on the situation and make decisions about the months to come.

“There will not be much change (after this phase) because the numbers are still too high … what we want is to gradually reopen schools … it will be slow, we will be cautious, because we have to monitor the effect on the virus. The biggest challenge we face is new variants, as they could affect vaccines. It is sensible to open slowly, as the vaccines are arriving. ”

The questions that remain

While we know there will be no hospitality reopening and no major changes on March 5, there are still many questions.

All of the following will probably become clear by the middle of next week;

• Will it be level five until the end of April too?
• Will the 5km limit be slightly widened to give people more freedom?
• Will construction be allowed to roll back completely again?
• At what point does the government expect vaccines to start having a significant impact?
• When can people leave their county again? Many have been trapped in their 5km away from their family for weeks.
• Will this be the last blockade?

Taoiseach’s announcement and when will we know?

The country will be informed of the decision after the Cabinet reaches an agreement on the plan, which is expected to be at some point on Thursday.

As usual, the Taoiseach Micheal Martin is expected to give his now usual national address where everything will be revealed.

You can keep up to date with the latest updates right here on the Irish Mirror. Follow our blog right here today.