Covid-19: 'Too early to confirm' Ireland's lockdown easing date

Stephen Donnelly says that, Delta variant aside, Ireland is doing well in dealing with coronavirus

It is too early to say if Covid-19 restrictions in the Republic of Ireland will ease on 5 July as planned, the country's health minister has said.

Stephen Donnelly said the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus meant there was a rapidly evolving situation in the country.

Under the easing, pubs and restaurants could open for indoor service.

The minister said the government would be briefed by its health advisers and would make a decision next week.

He told Irish national broadcaster RTÉ that "we don't want to go backwards and the hospitality industry do not want us to push too far" for the Delta variant to then "put everything at risk and people have to close down".

• Scientists say too early to tell risk of Delta plus variant

• Why has the Delta variant spread so quickly in UK?

The minister said he was concerned that despite a fall in overall numbers of coronavirus cases "we are now surrounded by the Delta variant".

He said the data indicated that one in five new cases in the past seven days were the variant.

On Wednesday it emerged that about 50% of Northern Ireland's coronavirus cases are now linked to the variant.

"We have a process we have been using all year which, I think, people support," said Mr Donnelly.

"Coming up to any reopening date the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) do a full analysis and we do an economic and social analysis and then cabinet makes the decisions."

Bars and restaurants in the Republic of Ireland can resume indoor service on 5 July if the easing goes ahead

The planned easing for 5 July will allow:

• Visitors from up to three other households inside your home

• 50 people to attend a wedding celebration or reception

• First communions, confirmations and baptisms to take place

• Maximum of 50 attendees at the majority of venues

• Maximum of 100 at events in larger venues with strict public health measures in place

• Maximum of 500 at outdoor venues with a minimum accredited capacity of 5,000

• Indoor training, exercise and dance activities to recommence in groups of up to six

• Indoor services to resume for bars and restaurants

Focus on 19-24 year olds

Mr Donnelly said people in the Republic of Ireland had been "doing the right thing".

"We are seeing phenomenal results in terms of the protection afforded by the vaccine - the numbers in hospital and intensive care units are very low," he said.

"We are starting from a strong position - [case numbers in] all age groups except the 19-24 year olds are falling, whether they are vaccinated or not.

"That's an age group we need to focus on and support a bit more."

The Irish government intends to go ahead with reopening international travel from 19 July unless there is strong public health advice to the contrary, added the minister.