The Government has agreed to postpone the re-opening of indoor dining for a number of weeks.
It follows a stark warning from the National Public Health Emergency Team about the Delta variant.
NPHET’s warned the Government that in a worst case scenario, Ireland could see 700 thousand covid cases and 2,000 deaths by September.
As a result Ministers have agreed to suspend indoor dining by two weeks at least.
During this time they will give consideration to a controversial proposal to only allow those fully vaccinated to dine indoors when it does resume.
Speaking on his way into this morning’s Cabinet meeting, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan admitted this system would face legal and practical problems.
What is expected to be given the green light in July is international travel - with it set to resume by July 19th.
While weddings are expected to be allowed have 50 guests next month and 500 people will be allowed to attend outdoor events where the venue’s capacity is 5000.
Announcement
A full announcement is expected shortly.
But even some Government Ministers are sceptical about how the new system will work.
There's been a backlash from the political system including a number of Government TDs and Senators about the proposals to delay and then restrict indoor dining.
Cabinet have agreed to the delay while they try to develop a system that would allow only fully vaccinated people or people who have recovered from COVID to have access to indoor dining.
But it's beset by challenges from the start.
There's the issue of younger, unvaccinated workers being asked to check if diners are fully vaccinated.
There's the potential for people to forge vaccination documents.
Huge issues around the actual enforcement were raised by cabinet Ministers.
And there's further constitutional and civil liberties questions about allowing one section of the population more freedoms than another based on whether or not they have a vaccine.
Government is going to try to work around the issues, but some Ministers feel they've been left holding the bag on very tricky NPHET proposals.
