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The government will allow people to visit their relatives on Christmas Day, but hugging their relatives will not be allowed.
After the three ruling party leaders met on Monday night before a key cabinet meeting today, understands that while Level 3 restrictions will primarily apply, the Government will allow “unrestricted” movement throughout the country to allow families to reunite.
All shops, gyms and hair salons will be able to open starting next week, while a decision on restaurants and other pubs is likely to be made at a later date, possibly the following week.
The restaurants say the government has told them that daily cases have to be at 200 for their reopening to be viable.
Strict warnings about keeping home gatherings safe will form a central part of the messages to be rolled out later this week.
These will include making sure there is no physical contact with family members other than your immediate family and that rooms are well ventilated at all times.
Some government sources have suggested that for the week or two before Christmas Day, Level 2 restrictions on gatherings will apply allowing six people from two households to meet indoors.
However, others have said that “some flexibility” will be proposed in those limits to ensure that parents are not forced to make difficult decisions about who they can see.
“The discussion is whether we focus on number six, or whether the number of households is the key factor,” said a government source. “But we don’t want parents to be in the position of having to choose their favorite child. Larger family gatherings are unlikely.”
Government ministers are believed to want to offer hope to the people, fearing that the six-week shutdown may have been particularly difficult this time.
Speaking at an event in Dublin Port on Monday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the restrictions have worked to reduce transmission speeds.
“Ireland ranks second in Europe for a small number of cases,” he said. “Level 3 and Level 5 worked, and they have worked. There has been a narrative around this that has not been helpful or accurate. We have another week to bring the numbers down again.”
Martin said his officials have analyzed many September and October investigations and international data on alcohol super-spread events, gatherings and congregations that facilitate the spread of the virus. Ultimately, he said, vigilance and human behavior are key.
“What has emerged is that the home visiting ban after we introduced level 3 seems to have had an impact, so we need to keep that in mind as we move into December,” he said.
“We have a meeting of the Government tomorrow, to know the perspectives of the individual ministers on the matter. The Covid Cabinet will meet and Nphet will also.”
The Taoiseach refused to be attracted to the reopening of bars or restaurants, but said: “Level 5 has been difficult, we understand that.
“The good news is that what you are doing is working. We are running our hospitals. We have kept our schools open and construction has stayed open. That is important, the work of the people is important and it has been effective.”
This week’s Nphet meeting was confirmed to be moved forward 24 hours to Wednesday, ahead of the cabinet’s decision to ease coronavirus restrictions.
Tonight an additional 252 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed, while no more deaths have been reported.
The expectation is that the country will go to Level 3 starting at midnight on December 1.
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