Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said Covid-19 cases in the next week will have an impact on Christmas restrictions.
The Minister for Transport also told the Irish Mirror that there was “good debate” at Cabinet around potential fines to tackle people congregating with alcohol.
The Government has now rowed back on proposals which would seek to prevent a repeat of revellers drinking on city streets after some backlash about potential proposals from Ministers and backbench TDs.
Minister Ryan said Cabinet were of the agreement that current by-laws preventing people from drinking on the streets in Dublin and Cork should be enforced.
He said: “There are existing by-laws in Dublin and in Cork on drinking in open places so I think what the sense in Cabinet was let’s enforce them properly.
“When they are effective, which they are, as I’ve seen it in my own constituency where the guards turn up, they do disperse.
“So I think we can manage it and I think we can manage it with the existing by-laws.
“I think there was a good debate [about fines] at Cabinet and recognition that we’ve done well as a country, the third best in Europe at the moment.
“We have to bring people with us, we have to have people really being careful in the next two weeks.
“It would have taken a bit of time to put new regulations in.
“It would be quicker and better to use the existing by-laws and to really kind of work with the guards and make sure they are enforced effectively, which I think the guards can do.”
Meanwhile, Minister Ryan said Christmas restrictions will depend on how the country’s Covid-19 cases are in the next week.
He said: “There is real agreement on that because if we can avoid that increase we have seen in the last four or five days it’ll put us in a much better position.
“We’re still going to wait until next week to have a look at the numbers.
“We are in the third of three two week periods and a lot depends on how we do in the next week, so fingers crossed.”
