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Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has signalled that most Covid-19 restrictions are to be lifted “after a long two years”, but he said the pandemic is not over and that some work must still be done on the timing of the latest round of reopening.
The Fine Gael leader was speaking on Friday on his way into a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan at which the recommendations from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on the removal of almost all pandemic curbs are being discussed.
“The Taoiseach will make an announcement at six. Certainly I think the view across Government is that if there’s no longer a public health rationale for any particular restriction well then there’s no political rationale for it either,” he said.
“But there are things that need to be worked out. To make something that’s currently illegal, legal can require a ministerial order to be rescinded, sometimes requires primary legislation to be repealed. We need to do a bit of work today on the timing.”
Nphet on Thursday night approved the return to normal opening hours for hospitality and the end of the use of the digital Covid pass for pubs and restaurants. The surprisingly positive recommendations went further than many in the Government had expected.
Mr Varadkar said the recommendation from Nphet was that the easing of restrictions should happen on a “phased basis”. He said the details of how to proceed and the timings would be discussed and decided today.
‘Much better place’
“It’s been a very long two years,” he said. “It’s certainly not over yet but we’re in a much better place now than we were previously and that is really down to a world-beating vaccine programme.”
He thanked the Irish people “for agreeing to be vaccinated” as this has “made a huge difference and has put us in a better position than a lot of other countries that are really struggling at the moment”.
On the possibility of restrictions being needed again in the future, Mr Varadkar said Covid-19 had “surprised us on many occasions” and that “nobody can rule out another wave after Omicron” given immunity wanes and new variants of concern emerge.
Restaurant and pub representatives have called for restrictions on their sectors, such as the 8pm closing time, to be lifted immediately. However, Mr Varadkar would not be drawn on this.
The Cabinet is set to meet around 3pm to discuss Nphet’s advice, and an announcement setting out when the various restrictions will be unwound is expected afterwards.
Padraig Cribben, chief executive of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, which represents pubs outside Dublin, called for bars to be able to resume normal trading hours today.
“After almost two years of lockdowns and closures, our members are ready to fully open from Friday,” he said. “There’s no need to wait any longer, all restrictions should be removed this weekend.
“While it will take considerable time for the hospitality sector to fully recover from the past two years, this weekend marks a new beginning for the trade.”
Ready to go
Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, said restaurants would like the restrictions to be lifted “immediately”. Businesses that were ready to operate normal trading hours tonight should be allowed to do so, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland on Friday.
There would be parts of the population who would be cautious, which was understandable, he said. In the future if there were further variants then the sector would be prepared and could reintroduce the Covid cert system, he added.
“Today is a good day for hospitality. It’s now up to the Government to say when we can reopen – today’s the day,” he said.
Danny McCoy, chief executive of business group Ibec, said Nphet’s recommendations were “a very positive development”, adding it was important that the pandemic wage support scheme remained in place while workplaces staggered the return of staff.
Tight labour market
Mr McCoy said there was a “very tight” labour market at present, and the vast majority of businesses would likely facilitate hybrid working conditions if asked.
Mr Varadkar, who is the Minister for Enterprise, said there was work to be done on the future of pandemic business supports and “making sure that they’re not removed too suddenly”.
“We’ve always said there won’t be a cliff edge removal of financial supports for business,” he said. “But there will be an end and they’re the kind of things the Government have to make decisions on today, the timing of restrictions being eased and also the timing of business supports being phased out.”
He thanked business owners and workers for their efforts during the pandemic. “Some people in some sectors have really had a rotten two years and hopefully the future is going to look a little bit brighter for them through the spring.”
Infectious diseases expert Prof Sam McConkey told Newstalk Breakfast it was unlikely there would be more serious variants of Covid in the future. He said some variants could be more lethal, but they would not be as transmissible because society was now so heavily vaccinated and infected.
“I do feel the worst is over. I am looking forward to getting back to studying tropical diseases and foreign travel.”