Taoiseach Micheál Martin's confirmed that pubs, clubs and restaurants will have to close earlier along with a range of other Covid restrictions.
He says there's 'no doubt' Ireland would be in another full lockdown without the high rate of vaccination.
Ministers agreed on a number of other measures during a meeting this morning.
It's an attempt to tackle the current wave of Covid 19.
🔴Closing Time
All customers will have to vacate hospitality premises by midnight from Thursday— Adrian Cummins 🇮🇪🇪🇺 (@adriancummins) November 16, 2021
List of Measures
Cabinet agreed to a series of measures at a Cabinet meeting this morning, in response to rising COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalisations.
A new curfew on the hospitality sector is being brought in, alongside changes to rules around close contacts.
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- Pubs, restaurants and nightclubs will have closing hours of midnight from Thursday
- People will be advised to work from home wherever possible from Friday
- An entire household will have to restrict movements for five days if there's a confirmed case in the home, pending completion of antigen tests
- A booster vaccine campaign for over 50s and those aged 16 to 59 with an underlying condition has been confirmed
- Vaccine certs won't be required for hairdressers and gyms as recommended by NPHET, but will now be mandatory for all cinemas and theatres
"No health system anywhere in the world would be able to cope" says Micheál Martin if the current rise in cases is sustained.
Lack Of Enforcement
Speaking to Beat News, Manager at the Reg Bar and Nightclub in Waterford, Donal O'Brien, says those that have followed guidelines are being unfairly punished:
"My biggest issue personally is that there's a pretty much zero enforcement on operators who have completely flouted guidelines."
"If people have been clamped down on early, we would have seen this part of the solution to people getting back to normal."
"Not part of the problem."
"Has been anyone fined I don't think so."
Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath says teachers WILL have to restrict their movements for five days if there's a positive case in their household.@lstwrd
— Ben Finnegan (@_BenFinnegan) November 16, 2021
The Department of Health has this evening reported 4,407 new cases of Covid-19.
614 people are in hospital with the virus, of whom 114 are being treated in ICU.
Almost 55-thousand infections have been confirmed in the past two weeks, an amount which hasn't been recorded in a 14-day period since January of this year.
The Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, says when case numbers are as high as this, people must act as though they are close contacts and are at risk of transmitting the virus to others.
