Opposition parties are calling for a stricter lockdown to beat back Covid.
Politicians outside Government are criticising the Cabinet for not going far enough with the latest proposed lockdown plans.
People Before Profit, Solidarity and Rise have been leading the way with calls for a Zero Covid policy and they called for it again today.
Labour are also in favour of stronger restrictions from the Government, with their plan called NASS, the National Aggressive Suppression Strategy.
Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, will announce the extension of Level Five lockdown to March 5 this afternoon, with stricter travel rules also being introduced.
But in advance of this the opposition is already saying the Government is missing another opportunity to eradicate Covid.
People Before Profit TD for Dún Laoghaire, Richard Boyd Barrett, is introducing a Zero Covid Bill in the Dáil and he is calling on the rest of the opposition to support it.
He said: “It is quite clear that the governments living with Covid strategy has failed and that we need a new direction.
“Piecemeal ad-hoc and reactive measures are simply not good enough.
“We have drawn up this motion calling for all parties in the Dáil to advocate a comprehensive alternative strategy based on Zero Covid.
“We urgently need to implement measures contained in our motion because as we see in places like New Zealand when you act decisively with the correct measures, we can bring down the levels of the virus and eliminate community transmission.
“Support for Zero-Covid has gained much ground since People Before Profit first called for this strategy back in September of last year.
“We need all opposition parties and the government to get off the fence and back this strategy.”
As part of Labour’s NASS policy, border TD from Louth, Ged Nash, believes ‘Covid Checkpoints’ near the border should be introduced.
Mr Nash said: “Residents in the Republic have strict travel restrictions in place, but there aren’t similar rules applying to non-residents.
“Checkpoints near the border should be given the power to enforce our laws.
“The Minister should act now to ensure that all of the restrictions and penalties that apply to the people of Louth and across the Republic apply to anyone from the north who might be thinking of a day-trip south.
“This is in the interests of everyone’s health.”
