LEO’S GENTLE CRACKDOWN
Up to €410 pay cover ++ No visits to friends ++ No cafes, only takeaways ++ Gardaí to break up more than four ++ But it’s not lockdown, says Taoiseach
LEO Varadkar has imposed sweeping measures, shutting down all but absolutely essential shops and putting more gardaí onto the streets to break up groups of more than four.
The crackdown saw all gyms, marts, hairdressers, casinos, theatres, bingo halls, clubs, leisure centres, bookies, markets and libraries barred to the public from midnight last night.
And while the Taoiseach was at pains to point out the curfew-like restrictions were not a lockdown, all holiday travel is banned, cafes were ordered to operate as takeaways, or not at all, and private hospitals were taken over by the State.
The restrictions come as another family faces the tragedy of a Covid-19 death, the seventh here, and 204 new cases
were confirmed, bringing our total to 1,329. The Taoiseach also said that people must work from home unless absolutely essential; and sports events, even those behind closed doors, are cancelled.
The amalgamation of public and private hospitals will add 2,000 beds, nine laboratories, more critical care capacity and thousands of staff to the public health service, where they are desperately needed.
There should be no non-essential travel, on or off the island, with an increasing uncertainty over citizens’ ability to return to the country, should they leave.
However, Mr Varadkar said: ‘I wouldn’t use the term “lockdown”. It is a term that causes a lot more confusion than clarity and is therefore one that I don’t intend to use.’
Schools, creches and third-level institutions will remain closed until April 19. But Education Minister Joe McHugh is working on a plan for Leaving Certificate and college exams go ahead. All hotels will operate solely for ‘essential, non-social and non-tourist reasons’, and with a limited number of guests.
The Health Department last night confirmed that a seventh person has died as a result of coronavirus. Of the 1,329, cases here 277 have been hospitalised, and 36 were admitted to ICU. And 247 are linked to health workers.
As of midnight on Monday, 17,992 tests were carried out.
The Taoiseach said yesterday: ‘We’re in this for the long haul, and this could go on for weeks, perhaps even months.’
He increased the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Support payment from €203 to €350 a week. It will also apply to the self-employed.
An emergency wage subsidy will see the State pay 70% of a worker’s salary, capped at €410, equivalent to the after-tax income of a worker on around €40,000.
And anyone in a household who is asked to self-isolate because a fellow householder is showing symptoms is entitled to €350 a week in illness benefit.
Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said the predicted number of 400,000 job losses is a conservative figure. She added: ‘I think it’s almost impossible to predict the scale of the employment loss.’
All outdoors gatherings are limited to a maximum of four people but not in the case of families; and more park rangers will ensure social distancing.
Mr Varadkar also said gardaí will ‘increase interventions’ but he said he hoped that they would do it ‘sparingly’.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy is proposing regulations to ensure temporary facilities such as hospitals, isolation units, and step-down facilities can be built without planning permission. Restaurants that become takeaways can also do it without planning consent.
Health Minister Simon Harris said Covid-19 patients will be treated for free in a single national hospital service that will run both private and public hospitals.
Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said the measures had to be stepped up because more than 1,000 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed.
He said that 45% of the cases were community transmissions where they could not identify the original source – and one in four is a healthcare workers.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said that ‘the very severe disruption that has occurred has placed otherwise healthy and viable businesses in jeopardy’.
‘The wage subsidy agreed today is a payment to employers to encourage them to retain employees on their payroll during this period,’ he said. ‘It will be available to all employers who suffer either a minimum of 25% decline in turnover or an inability to pay normal wages and outgoings and other circumstances.
Business Minister Heather Humphreys said: ‘We want to ensure that businesses are able to keep their employees on their books so that when we come out the other side, Ireland and our citizens can get back to work as quickly as possible.
‘By keeping that crucial link between the employer and the employee, we will be best placed to kick-start the economy once again,’ she said.
‘It’s also worth remembering that for many firms there are ways to use this time productively. It could be an opportunity to put staff on online training courses, get feedback from employees, consider how you could make your business leaner, more innovative and more competitive and draw plans to improve productivity.’
‘Hard to predict scale of job losses’