Government ministers have agreed to extend lockdown powers until November.
Most of the laws governing the stringent lockdown measures were due to lapse on June 9.
These include powers to impose fines, police quarantines and enforce travel bans.
There was an expectation that they would be extended out for another three months, to September 9, when it’s hoped the lockdowns will be well and truly finished with.
But the Government has gone further, and according to a Government spokesman, a “failsafe” date of November 9 has now been chosen and passed by the Cabinet.
The extension does not mean lockdowns will continue until that date, but it does give the Government the requisite powers to keep them going if they want - or to introduce regional or county lockdown extensions.
The new provisions will have to pass through the Oireachtas and be voted on in the Dáil and Seanad, which the Government spokesman said will happen “as soon as possible.”
The spokesman added: “It was very much that these were very much just to have in place as a failsafe, just as a precautionary measure…. because they were due to lapse on June 9th it was seen as prudent to have legislation in place.”
