Over 40,000 people have come forward offering to help Irish health workers during the coronavirus crisis, Simon Harris has said.
The Health Minister was speaking this morning when he said common sense is the greatest gift we can give to older people, nurses and doctors.
Mr Harris has once again urged the public to practice social distancing, following the news on Thursday that Ireland has 191 new cases of Covid-19.
He said: "I mean we all want to look after our loved ones. We are all feeling this. This is an anxious time for everybody on an individual level.
"I'm no doctor, but my advice is don't leave [a family member on their own] but do, do take precaution.
"That does mean no hugging. That does mean keeping your distance. It does mean obeying the two metre social distancing.
"But if you can do that, if you're in a position to do that, please do.
"And another thing, which is so lovely to hear, people are now using technologies to keep in touch. Things like FaceTime and Skype.
"Some of our older citizens use these things already, but, if they don't, let's try and spend the next few hours or days making sure mum or dad or granny or granddad are able to use FaceTime or Skype to keep in touch with the grandkids and stuff."
Speaking to Pat Kenny on Newstalk, Minister Harris also said the HSE is looking "very closely" at private hospital capacity during the ongoing crisis.
He said: "We are trying to make sure we can keep vital operations and therapies going... we are looking very closely at private hospital capacity."
He added: "If we can all just practice a bit of common sense here it is the biggest gift we can give to older people, vulnerable people in our community and to nurses and doctors."
So far, there are 557 confirmed Irish cases of the virus which has claimed three lives in the Republic. This figure will be updated later on Friday.
