It has been revealed that the hospitality sector will not reopen until at least mid-summer. An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin has said that “no consideration” on reopening the hospitality sector will take place until mid-summer. Speaking on RTE Raidió na Gaeltachta, An Taoiseach said:
While I am happy that we are making progress with the vaccination programme. Any easing of the restrictions has to be slow and cautious because of the threat from new variants of the disease.
These variants are our biggest concern for managing the disease in the immediate future.
The blow to the hospitality sector comes as news emerged yesterday that Irelands Level 5 ‘Lockdown’ is expected to continue until May, another 6 weeks.
The phased reopening of schools is also being planned, with a phased return to Primary and Secondary school being implemented. Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children said that the Government is considering a reopening approach that would see Junior Infants, Senior Infants, First Class, Second Class and Leaving Certificate students return to school on the 1st March. There is yet to be an official announcement on this, but, is due in the coming week.
A quick reminder of what Level 5 Restrictions mean:
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