Cabinet ministers are set to consider easing the 5km rule to allow travel within counties from the middle of April, it has been reported.
A meeting of Monday night's Cabinet’s Covid subcommittee agreed that the reopening of construction, outdoor meetings and the return of children's sports are the top priorities, and these are now likely to be approved by the wider Cabinet on Tuesday.
It is expected they will be eased back in on a phased basis from next Monday, April 5.
And it has now emerged that government will consider extending travel to within counties either at the same time as, or shortly after, the return of all schools on April 12, RTE News reports.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin is due to make an address to the nation on Tuesday confirming any new measures after a Cabinet meeting.
While in a move to protect the country from further Covid variants, the Mirror has learned that NPHET has advised more countries be added to the mandatory hotel quarantine list - and this time they will be “household name” countries, possibly Spain and Portugal.
A senior Government source has told the Irish Mirror this means that vacations or time at holiday homes abroad and flying back freely from sunny Europe are out for the foreseeable future.
We understand that the top medics of NPHET want to implement more of a ‘Fortress Ireland’ plan and have recommended to Government to add “a considerable number” of extra countries to the 33 already on our quarantine list.
Up to now only one European country, Austria, has been on the hit list that requires travellers from there to spend 14 days in tough hotel quarantine, at a cost of €1,875 for a single person.
Adult outdoor sports are now extremely unlikely to return on April 5, despite many ministers keen to see this move.
It is likely they may return on a phased basis over the next six weeks instead, which could be the way some other restrictions are lifted too.
The Government’s special Cabinet subcommittee on Covid met on Monday to thrash out the NPHET advice, before coming to Cabinet at 1pm today with their recommendations.
Mr Martin will then address the nation on Tuesday evening where he will outline the latest decisions.
The heavy-hitting ministers at last night’s meeting included Mr Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Greens leader Eamon Ryan.
They were briefed by the leaders of NPHET, including Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn.
Meanwhile, another Cabinet source told the Mirror that it will be agreed further construction will resume from next week, with the emphasis firmly on the building of houses.
The Government’s homebuilding targets in the middle of a housing crisis are slipping and it's understood ministers want to get back on track ASAP.
