One of Ireland's leading doctors has cast doubt on sporting events in Ireland returning to stadiums anytime soon.
Dr Colm Henry has warned that allowing people back into stadiums after flattening the coronavirus curve could see another spike in cases.
It remains to be seen when sporting events will return and when this year's All-Ireland championships will kick-off, if they do at all.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, the HSE's Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry said: "While we may be beating that curve down and even crushing it hopefully now in the coming weeks if we all buckle down, if suddenly we all decided to congregate again on beaches, stadiums, football stadiums, marches and whatever else it would go rapidly up again.
"We've learned that. Not just here in Ireland, but abroad.
"I don't know what's going to happen next and while there's lots of opinions, nobody knows with certainty [what's going to happen next].
"It certainly doesn't seem here in Ireland or internationally that we're looking at a peak, a fall and back to normal. That doesn't look to be a plausible narrative anymore."
He added: "All I can say is that the modelling shows that while we can weather this first phase if you like, we've seen learning in China and Singapore that after a first phase comes a loosening and then a testing out and then maybe a rise in cases again.
"Each country is learning and we're all sharing this learning as to what social measures we can loosen to allow society to return to some semblance of normality, while at the same time containing the virus."
