Level 5 restrictions aren't due to be lifted for another two weeks, but government is looking ahead to next month putting plans in place that will hopefully allow businesses to reopen and run as smoothly as possible in the run-up to Christmas.
Countless industries have been suffering at the hands of Covid-19 with the hospitality industry amongst those hardest hit. Shut since mid-March and the onset of the first lockdown, pubs across Ireland have been pushing to reopen their doors for months.
Coming into what would normally be one of the busiest times of the year for socialising, there is still much uncertainty as to whether Christmas drinks will be possible this year but the
Irish Examiner reports that government is currently working on plans that would afford pubs and restaurants a "two-week reprieve" to reopen - providing that Covid numbers drop in the coming weeks.
According to the proposed plan, all retail outlets will also reopen and people will be free to travel around the country to visit loved ones. No official decision has been made as of yet but it's believed that government are considering moving the country to level 3 with slightly looser restrictions brought in for the two weeks prior to December 25th.
Commenting on what's to come, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said:
"We want to be as ambitious as we can be in terms of the removal of restrictions to try to ensure that we create as positive a Christmas period as possible for traders and families, and everybody else."
Explaining the reasoning behind the proposed plan, another minister told the Examiner that level 3 would be a compromise to avoid another lockdown in January.
"We could get the
numbers well down and that would merit going to level 2 - but the reason you wouldn’t go to level 2 is to avoid a lockdown in January. So, level 3 would be the compromise but with a two-week reprieve which would be fair."
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