Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said that it may be necessary to go “even beyond” the current Level 5 restrictions to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Coveney said the pace of the third wave of the virus has taken everyone by surprise.
Defending the Government’s handling of the situation and decisions made, Mr Coveney said the Government has worked with NPHETÂ very successfully for the past nine months.
“Decisions made on the back of that relationship have saved many lives and kept the virus under control where possible,” he said.
However, he conceded that “some mistakes have been made”.
The minister said the Government must make decisions and the most important advice comes from NPHET but other considerations need to be taken into account too, but maintained that “We take NPHET’s advice seriously and act on it.”
Urging people to keep their hopes up at this time, Mr Coveney said he does not think we should forget the successes we have had as we focus on the challenge ahead which he said is “a significant one”.
Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport Eamon Ryan has defended the Government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis and said it did not deviate from NPHET’s advice.
“What was most important when we saw this sudden spike in transmissions, very rapid, very recent, the Government immediately responded, twice. Even the change a week ago to the last few days is a very different situation.
“We responded very quickly accepting NPHET’s advice and putting in stringent Level 5 restrictions across the country.”
He said the real key is getting back control “which won’t be easy” but he said collectively we will be able to do it and have to do it.
“What I hope we would see by the middle of January that those fearful numbers around what the implications for hospitals might be, start to turn the other way,” said Mr Ryan.
Meanwhile, Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer at the HSE, has warned it will take some time before the implementation and adherence to Level 5 restrictions will show positive effects.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Katie Hannon, he said the Level 5 measures are quite stringent and if we abide by them, we will “turn this around” and avoid our heath system becoming overwhelmed and avoid illness and death.
Speaking about the new variant first identified the UK being in Ireland, he said it has the “potential to do great harm”.
While he said there are suggestions there are more positive cases of this variant in children, there is no suggestion that it is more virulent in children.
When asked if it will play into schools reopening he said, like many others, he wants to see them open and that we do not want to return to the scenario again when the schools were shut earlier this year.
“Every battle has to have some cause worth fighting for. And surely education and healthcare should be the two things worth fighting for in this third surge,” he said.
