Ireland announced abruptly yesterday that with effect from this morning, most remaining COVID legal measures were dropped, including:
They have retained:
- Limits on gatherings
- 5,000 person attendance at outdoor events and 1,000 indoors
- 100 person attendance at weddings
- 8pm closure of hospitality venues
- Vaccine pass requirement at hospitality venues
- "pods of 6" and 1m distancing at certain venues
- Taking of contact details at certain venues
They have retained:
- Face coverings in public transport, shops, and some public venues for ages 13+
- Face coverings were never required de jure for customers at hospitality venues (they are for staff) but they were enforced de facto while walking around them
- Face coverings were never required de jure in schools but they are still being enforced with an iron rod at 90%+ of schools. Ditto churches.
- Eating and drinking remains banned on all public transport
- The Taoiseach (prime minister) indicated masks will probably be gone by end of February
- Passenger locator forms for those entering from off island
- PCR test for unvaccinated travellers from off island
- From 1 February in line with EU rules a booster would be required for anyone whose last vaccination was over 9 months prior
- Legal requirements to self-isolate after a positive test
- Legal requirements to work from home – guidance is that office attendance should resume on a phased basis from Monday and return to normal by 1 March
- Legal requirements around social-distancing in general – guidance has been dropped effective immediately