TÁNAISTE LEO VARADKAR has said that he does not expect the Government will need to impose restrictions over the winter, despite a rise in Covid-19 cases in Ireland and across Europe.

Speaking to reporters this morning, Varadkar said that the Government expects to be able to manage the increase in case numbers and that there will be additional supports provided to the health system.

“This, in many ways, is the first normal winter, dare I call it that, since the pandemic, and therefore we expect it to be very busy, given the fact that Covid cases are rising again and also there’s a flu season expected,” said Varadkar.

“We’ll be giving a lot of support to the Minister for Health and HSE to minimise the disruption and overcrowding and our hospitals over the winter.”

This support will come through the latest HSE Winter Plan, which Health Minister Stephen Donnelly brought to Cabinet this morning.

He said that the new Chief Medical Officer, Dr Breda Smyth, had provided a briefing yesterday on the current epidemiological situation.

“It does appear that we are now seeing Covid cases rising again in Ireland, and indeed, across Europe, but we would expect to be able to manage that without having to impose any new restrictions on people,” Varadkar added.

However, he did encourage people to wear masks while in crowded situations and called on people to get their Covid-19 booster vaccine.

Regarding mask-wearing, it’s understood that there are no plans to introduce mandated mask-wearing at present. However, it is understood that if mask mandates are to be introduced in certain settings, there would be an assessment process with a number of indicators being looked at. 

“Obviously we hope things will remain relatively calm with Covid, but we can’t plan on that basis, said the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly this morning, speaking to reporters. “We’ve seen a very significant increase in Covid hospitalisations over the last week – only 40% of them are in hospital with Covid, however ever one of them that is in hospital with Covid, they need to be cared for obviously, but there are also knock-on effects with infection prevention and control measures.”

He said that the conversation with Cabinet would be about how they know Ireland is facing into a difficult winter, so it has a big focus on investment and recruitment for emergency departments, and a focus on living with Covid.

It comes as Donnelly also brought new plans to manage Covid-19 over the winter, with a new Covid-19 advisory group being established to examine how best to contain the virus over the next several months.