Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has laid out a roadmap for a phased lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in Ireland this evening.
This plan – which can be read in full here – lays out the staggered approach to lifting certain measures put in place by the government to slow down the spread of Covid-19.
It must be noted that the plan is tentative and will be kept under constant review. There is an ongoing possibility that restrictions could be re-imposed.
The document setting out the plan noted that, across the different categories, phases might kick in at different times – for instance, a ‘middle phase’ education measure might start earlier than a social/recreational measure from the same ‘middle phase’.
This evening, Varadkar confirmed that current restrictions are to remain in place until 18 May. However, over 70s will now be allowed to leave their homes to exercise or drive within a 5km radius.
Tuesday, 5 May
From Tuesday, people will be allowed to travel up to 5km for the purposes of exercise.
“From Tuesday, it will be possible to go for a walk or a drive within five kilometres from your home if you avoid all contact with other people,” Varadkar said.
Phased reopening
Starting on 18 May, the country will begin to re-open in five stages, three weeks apart.
Varadkar said that “all things going to plan”, the fifth stage will commence on 10 August.
Based on the three-week review process, the current phases would commence on the following dates:
With regard to community health measures, the document advises that during phase one people should continue to avoid unnecessary journeys.
Other guidance includes:
In terms of education and childcare measures, schools and college buildings may open for access by teachers for organisation and distribution of remote learning.
Looking at economic activity, the following is being advised on a risk-based approach:
Guidance for retail services is as follows:
In terms of social and cultural measures, some outdoor public amenities and tourism sites will reopen where people are non-stationary and social distancing can be applied.
Looking at health and social care services, there will be an increased delivery of non-Covid-19 care and services across phases one and two. A further breakdown of this can be found in the document.
With regard to community health measures, the document advises that during phase two the restriction on movement from a person’s home will be increased to 20km but unnecessary journeys should still be avoided.
Other guidance includes:
Looking at economic activity, workers who can maintain working from home should continue to do so. Organisations will be asked to develop plans for a return to onsite working by employees in light of Covid-19.
Some of the plans for retail services include:
In terms of cultural and social measures, public libraries with limited numbers can reopen.
People will be permitted to engage in outdoor sporting and fitness activities, involving small group team sports training (but no matches), where social distancing can be maintained.
With regard to community health measures, the document advises that during phase three people should maintain restriction to within 20km of their home and to continue to avoid unnecessary journeys.
In terms of education and childcare measures, creches, childminders and pre-schools for children of essential workers will reopen in a phased manner with social distancing and other requirements applying.
Looking at economic activity, the following restrictions will apply:
Some of the plans for culture and social measures include:
Moving onto retail services, there will be a phase-in opening of all other non-essential retail outlets. This is to be limited to retail outlets with street-level entrances which are not in enclosed shopping centres.
In terms of health and social care, there will be a commencement of a phased approach to visiting hospitals, residential healthcare centres, other residential settings and prisons, etc.
With regard to community health measures, the document advises that during phase four travel can be extended to outside a person’s region.
Looking at education and childcare measures, creches, childminders and pre-schools will reopen for children of all other workers on a gradually increasing phased basis.
With regard to economic activity, organisations where employees cannot work remotely will be considered first for return to onsite working arrangements.
Retail services will see the commencement of loosening of restrictions on higher risk services such as hairdressers and barbers.
Some of the plans for culture and social measures include:
With regard to community health measures, the document advises that during phase five large social gatherings will be restricted due to risk.
There will be a continued restriction on all household contact of suspect cases.
Looking at education and childcare measures, schools and universities will reopen in September and October.
In terms of health and social care, there will be a return to normal visiting for hospitals, residential healthcare centres, other residential settings and prisons, etc.
Economic activity will see a phased return to onsite working.
Some of the plans for retail services include:
And, finally, here are some of the plans for culture and social measures:
It must again be noted that there is an ongoing possibility that restrictions could be re-imposed.
Before each government consideration of the easing of restrictions, the Department of Health will provide a report regarding the latest data available.
It will also provide risk-based public health advice on what measures could be modified in the next period.
The government would then consider what restrictions could be lifted, having regard to the advice of the Department of Health, as well as other social and economic considerations.
This process will be carried out on an ongoing basis once every three weeks.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Beautiful pic. Just before he dons the balaclava so he can mug us
It would be more in Hogan’s line to curb his spending on lavish junkets such as 10K spent on a day trip and so on!
@ Scrap.. Brilliant .. made me laugh!!
@joan. There’s a new tax on laughing in next budget. Be careful
I think Filthy Phil should be forced to inspect every single septic tank in the country. Personally.
And actually get into the first one!!!!!
Ah hold on Bernadette. Can u imagine the smell of sh1t off him after that? Oh wait …
Yes Scrap, there would indeed be a foul smelling ( to him only ) sense of poetic justice in your proposal. Still, knowing his kind, he would probably create such a stink, that he would get a transfer, to another less fragrant position. It’s still a nice image though.
Septic tanks are such a load of crap. Sorry, I’ll let myself out…
ur full of shit
There’s the carrot, next comes the stick.
Fine Gael must think the people of Ireland of complete idiots this is another con job to try and get the names and addresses of people.
How much will it cost to have a faulty one replaced
A lot depends on the problem. Most likely it’s going to be the leech field where the liquor from the tanks is dispersed into the ground. The pipes tend to get blocked and/or there wasn’t enough pipe in the first place. So your looking at a digger, 50m of perforated pipe ( not yellow land drain that most have) and a load of drainage chips. That would be around 1500 at a guess for a standard site with easy access for the plant and excl reseeding the lawn etc. If the land is no good for drainage or the tank is too high then you may have to dig it all up and possibly put in a active solution with multiple chambers and then the cost and running costs ( electric & filters) climb steeply.
Top of the range system 5000 although there are cheaper systems available
thanks guys, dont normally side with the devil but I think he’s right on this one
Here’s what’s going to happen, I bet at least 50% will have to spend big money to get them to “standard” 5-6k stuff.
Watch this space, this is to get info and cover their arse.
My septic tank fitted cost me €7k in 07
I have just replaced mine after twenty years of rodding, poking, emptying, checking and stinking. The cost was over twelve thousand for a state of the art one. I sleep easier but substantially poorer.
We have been told approx six grand
When you register your Tank you are given the Council permission to enter your premisses at any time .
You must ask to see there safe pass and Insurance Certificate before they enter .
Your Septic Tank is already registered with the Council , they are the body who decide when you applied
for Planning where your Septic Tank was to be located , if you every tried to sell your House be sure the Council
will tell you where your tank is .
With out this New Register the council can not enter your premisses .
If there is a problem with your Tank the Council is liable , they decide where it went in the first place .
Wrong. Councils already have
this power under the Waste Management Act and Water Pollution Act.
Good luck getting past the Alsatian lads
Hope that dog’s taxed
Backtracking I see. Hope similar outcome with property tax, child benefit and carers grants.
Keith
I do not think he is back tracking …He is offering a grant etc if people will register. They want our details at any cost.
Stand firm and don’t register , It is a divide and conquer tactic.
Don’t worry about the property tax. It will only last the lifetime of this thatcherite government. Hopefully we will be rid of this shower soon when the Labour party implodes. At the next election all candidates will be asked – Scrap the property tax “Yes” or “No”? Only anti property tax candidates have any hope of being elected.
appeasement. shows they will back down to people making a stand.
Keep holding out. Next Hogan will be offering us discounts on the house tax if you register your septic tank. Another ill planed knee jerk by a government filled with them.
Eileen
The danger with your advice is that grants may be refused to householders who have to update their system but didn’t register. When the inspector visits an area it will become immediately obvious where tanks are located and whether the soil structure is likely to cause a problem with waste water treatment. I think you should be much more cautious about the consequences of someone heeding your advice and getting into massive trouble.
All of my neighbours have had to spend thousands replacing our systems but we were more concerned at being fined for polluting a watercourse which is the existing legal position. Indeed our septic tanks can be inspected right now by the EPA under pre existing anti pollution legislation.
Wishful thinking?
Is there going to be an article about Big Phil being dragged into the high court in the new year? To answer questions over the the Household Tax.
I’d sooner see Hogan dragged into a septic tank rather than a court!
Once the horror stories of septic tank pollution start coming out (and based on indications so far, they will) this will seem less like a Thatcherite imposition and more like something we should have been doing twenty years ago.
Any relation Noel?
No thank God!
I doubt Hogan would want to bring in this charge, like most politicians he’d prefer to long finger it as has been done for decades. But since we signed to to implement this directive he has no choice. Embarrassing really that Europe has to force our political system to address this issue.
It is necessary for the good of the country to have the septic tank problem fixed and only stupid people would go against this decision. . Do we really want to be ingesting our own sewage (or other peoples’)? .Giving a grant towards the cost of repair is a good idea Passing some houses the stink would knock you down and our drinking water is not safe. If Phil Hogan manages to clean up our septic tank problem he will have done something very useful for the country.
Good move. Near time we got our filthy septic tank problem up to a proper standard, than continue to leak into our fragile environment.
No doubt the morbidly negative cohort will find this announcement another point of frantic criticism, despite their probably not even having a septic tank. Just septic sentiment regardless of what the Government is doing.
Nice hat fool!!!
I know where there is a septic tank that,s not reported
Where,s that
The dall
Eileen….me thinks they have your details already!
So true Mark…
So many people on here
commenting and have no worries about septic tanks…….
Apparently we own our property but the government own the minerals below( water,etc) …. Well I say let them look after the minerals under my septic tank.
This year alone we have paid €450 for maintenance and a new belt on our pure flow system.
I will never register my pure flow system, for our council told us exactly where we could put it, they have the
paper work…. Let them look it up
So if the effluent from your septic tank manages to seep into your drinking water supply (or a river etc.) what will you do then?
Council responsible for the planning permission passed the septic tank. Aisling your not suggesting the councils didn’t have a clue what they were passing are you?
The pig is back
“Minister Hogan said one of the most important aspects about functioning septic tanks is that people have clean water to drink” errrr sorry to have to tell you this big Phil but people dont drink any water from their septic tanks.
Problem is that your tank can leak into your water supply, and then you then end up literally drinking sh*t.
Couldn’t happen Noel after all the local county council would have granted planning permission for the septic tank. Your not suggesting that they didn’t inspect fully before granting permission? If they didn’t then they can pay for it.
That’s pretty much it, don’t think you can blame the homeowners on this, they played by the rules. Can’t blame Europe either, the idea of inspecting septic tanks for pollution is a valid one (and in any case, Europe is just demanding that we implement something we signed up to 30 odd years ago).
Blame those politicians who knew this was coming down the tracks and decided to pretend that everything was all right, just like the property crash. Who cares about sound policy when there’s short term popularity to be gained. There’s an election coming up after all.
Mike
What do you think causes the great scandals of cryptosporidium and other pollutants in our Galway public drinking water systems. Perhaps it was sabotage by the people of a Middle World or Fairies at the bottom of the garden! Grow up man.
Mostly poor planning by councils Michael J and the refusal to invest in infrastructure.
Interesting. The Fine Gael manifesto did promise financial help for the remediation of septic tanks. Subsequently though Phil siad there’d be no blank cheque. On Dec 19th Europe will decide how miuch we’ll be fined for not having put controls on waste water since 2006. We’ll hear whether Phil’s ‘risk based’ inspection will pass with Europe. 2 days time is it?
A report for the department of the environment in 2007 estimated that the total cost per septic tank will be between 7000 + 25000 euro with a total cost of 3 billion
Great! Make up a charge out of thin air and then create a grant for it. Genius*!!!
*for the purposes of this post Genius actually means completely idiotic!
Will owners who live outside the Republic be eligible for a grant? There are hundreds of such people.
Now that seems fair make him the minister for respite grants and were rocking grants for respite
Our septic tank won’t be running uphill thank god…. I’d be more worried about my neighbours septic tanks.
It’s not just a case of checking tanks out, they also need to check out where wells are situated in relation to all septic tanks and pureflow systems, I can tell you here and now some of them are back to back….
unitsiuniaround the area
This whole issue about septic tanks boils my clams. we have major problems with sewage polution in rural areas . some areas more than others.people need to except that the householder is responcible for their own waste in all its forms. if your system had broken down or no proper system was ever put in. you cannot blame anyone else for this.if you cut corners when building or leave bad tyres on your car and you crash and kill yourself or someone else.if the roof falls in and kills the dog or worse thats your fault and nobody elses. no more than the crap thats going on in ireland were trying to blame everyone else but ourselved. ff bought elections under bertie they set up the conditions for the developers to run amok. the banks through soft regulation again set up by bertie did what they do and poured money into a house of cards that was one failed deal from falling downs. nows whos to blame.one the sucessive govts that allowed it to happen. two we the people who allowed ourselves to be bought and got greedy. and three the international banks who funded our banks when they knew that it was all going to fall apart. so mostly the problem is ours. no more than the tanks. take responcibility for our own actions and maybe we may get back to an ireland that we can be proud of again.
Ho Ho Ho. Just another manoeuvre to entrap people not registered. Up to 4K yeah? That’ll be assistance of probably €10 to the sad fool hiding in the bushes. Like a septic tank himself he continues to be full of S**!
they are going to try and cod people again
Septic Phil going out on the rob
have your say