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The Taoiseach has said he is worried about complacency around the Covid-19 restrictions setting in and said he did not want to speculate about when the country would reopen.<\/p>\nThe Taoiseach has said he is worried about complacency around the Covid-19 restrictions setting in and said he did not want to speculate about when the country would reopen.<\/p>\n
Leo Varadkar echoed comments made by Health Minister Simon Harris, who warned that complacency could be \u201cfatal\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a video message on Twitter on Sunday night, the minister said the progress made by the Irish people risks being undone if people become complacent.<\/p>\n
Speaking in Dublin on Monday, Mr Varadkar said he shares the minister\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach said: \u201cCertainly anecdotally and speaking to people, there does seem to have been an increase in traffic and an increase in people out and about.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is OK for people to be out and about so long as they observe social distancing. It is OK for people to travel provided those journeys are necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do however have a concern not yet backed up by numbers \u2013 but we may have numbers later today \u2013 that there has been a little bit of complacency setting in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat worries us because we are making real progress in terms of predicting the rate the virus is spreading and we don\u2019t want to lose that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said the Government will set out a road map about how Ireland will come out of lockdown but said he did not want to speculate about what would be lifted first.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhat we\u2019re working on is a plan that we will have before the end of April.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would indicate how we reopen the country in different steps and the criteria for moving from one step to the next.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil then, I would rather not speculate or fuel expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar said the Government has a plan to sort out childcare for healthcare workers after creches and schools were ordered to shut last month.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe know that there is a significant demand from healthcare workers to have childcare provided so that they can continue to go to their jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some families and households, it has been working because one of the couple is working from home or has lost their job \u2013 which is really unfortunate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have come across incidents where there are two healthcare workers in the same household and they are struggling to get childcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have worked up a solution \u2013 the money is there to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it does require public health clearance from the National Public Health Emergency Team so they are going to discuss it tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that it has been very delayed and people are very frustrated about it and there are a lot of contrasting views about it but it needs public health clearance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, more than one million people are now either fully or partially dependent on the state for income support, according to the latest figures from the Department of Social Protection.<\/p>\n
Some 584,000 people are now receiving the \u20ac350 weekly Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment introduced in March.<\/p>\n
There are also 212,000 on the Live Register receiving standard jobseekers\u2019 benefit of \u20ac203 per week.<\/p>\n