The Taoiseach has said the Delta wave of Covid-19 has stabilised with cases and hospitalisations levelling off but the Government remains concerned
But Micheál Martin warned colleagues that case numbers are still high and can flip in the wrong direction very quickly.
Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath said the Government was aware that the hospitality sector was paying the price for the positive response to public health advice. Meanwhile, the Tánaiste told a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting that the country is doing substantially better than optimistic models from the National Public Health Emergency Team in terms of Covid-19 cases, numbers in hospital and deaths.
He said there was a concern that the situation had stabilised at a high level and if anything went wrong in the run up to Christmas, it would go wrong from a very high base.