Tanaiste Leo Varadkar weighs in on whether six-week level five lockdown will save Christmas

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Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has offered his opinion on whether a nationwide lockdown would be enough to get back to normal in time for Christmas.

On Friday, the Fine Gael leader hinted that he would not be in favor of a Level Five lockdown.

He said that you have to “think it through” and that it would be much more difficult for people and companies.

But he did not rule it out.

His comments came after it was revealed that NPHET had reported the country moving to Level 5 restrictions as the virus continues to spiral out of control.

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar photographed speaking to the media.

Varadkar added: “The government made a decision only in the last few days to move some counties to Level Four and heavily restrict home visiting in the areas that are in Level Three.

“So the government has acted and acted only in the last few days and the government will act again, but the deadlines that we follow are those established by the government.

“We will consider the letter, the advice and the evidence, we will think about the implications of the economy for society, mental health and other things and then we will make a decision.

“I certainly feel that a second block would be much more difficult than the first.

“And the public will want and wait to know what the exit strategy is.

Shoppers wearing face masks on Grafton Street during the Covid 19 coronavirus pandemic in Dublin city center

“I’m not saying it won’t happen or that it’s discarded or anything like that.”

He said social isolation in the winter months would be much more “difficult for people.”

Regarding whether or not a full six-week lockdown would help save Christmas, Varadkar said: “I think what people would want is an idea or guarantees of how long this would last. What is the goal we are trying to achieve? and what would be the exit strategy.

“We know from the last crash, when you get into it, it can last a lot longer than you think and it can be quite slow to get out of it again.

I can understand the opinion I sometimes hear from retailers and restaurateurs: “Let’s close now and we can reopen and have a normal Christmas.”

“I would hate to actually make that kind of promise.”



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