New guidance on wedding guest numbers to be reviewed

The Government is to review guidance on the maximum number of guests allowed at weddings after Ministers resisted proposals from the State’s public health team to limit them to six people.

Speaking following a sometimes fraught Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that, instead of adopting the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) advice, the Government “decided that we wanted to review that and reengage on that issue because we think we have to be fair to people who have wedding plans to the end of the year”.

“Weddings will continue as they currently are until a further decision is made,” he said.

This means there is still a limit of 50 on such a gathering.

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At a press briefing, the Taoiseach was also questioned on a Cabinet decision to ask those over 70 to stay at home as much as possible and limit interactions with others at a time when Masses and other religious services could continue as before.

He said that he was asking those over 70 and medically vulnerable to exercise their own judgement when it came to deciding whether they should go on a staycation or not.

However, the acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that “at the moment we wouldn’t be recommending that someone would go to a hotel, because we’re specifically asking people to limit their contacts and obviously in a hotel it’s more difficult to limit the number of people you come into contact with”.

“What we’re asking people to do is to exercise caution, the trajectory of disease is going in the wrong direction,” he added.

Dr Glynn confirmed that outdoor summer camps should be kept to a group of 15 and ideally the same group of 15.

Dr Glynn also clarified that gyms would continue to operate but no more than six people should attend inside exercise classes.

He also said the restrictions placed on counties Kildare, Laois and Offaly would be reviewed on Thursday.

In relation to restaurants, Mr Martin said the Government agreed to a “more reasonable time for restaurants [which] would be 11.30pm to allow the last sitting to conclude in an orderly manner”.

He also said the Government was to publish a roadmap for resilience and recovery before mid-September .

Garda powers

Mr Martin said additional powers may be given to gardaí to enforce public health measures. For example, where a pub is flagrantly flouting public health guidelines gardaí will be given the power to immediately close down the premises, he said, suggesting legislation would be needed to do this.

Garda officers later said they were surprised no new powers had been set out for the enforcement of restrictions, adding they did not believe the Government had consulted with Garda Headquarters despite Mr Martin’s statement on Tuesday.

A number of sources said if gardaí had the power to close pubs immediately for breaching measures aimed at combating Covid-19, it would act as a significant deterrent. They also believed on the spot fines should be introduced.

“It would mean [gardaí] would have the power to enforce all kinds of Covid-19 measures. You could break up gatherings and sanction people at the same time and without having to start a criminal process,” said one source.

However, several sources said introducing new measures to break up house parties was very complex as it would involve entering a person’s home without a warrant.