Minister for Health Simon Harris has said "there are not any plans for now" for the State to make face coverings available to the public.
Asked if the State will make face coverings available, Mr Harris said "we should all take responsibility to have our own face coverings. You can make your own face covering or purchase a face covering". This would be replaced by the wearing of face coverings and if it is agreed today it would increase capacity by 50% on trains, buses and trams.
SF's @loreillysf says mandatory use of face coverings on public transport needs to be policed properly. She also says that Govt should introduce an information campaign. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/hMT2zY9rZJ Regarding the quarantine period for people returning from other countries, Ms O'Reilly she said: "A mandatory quarantine period would not be necessary if we had effective trace and test in place."Ms O'Reilly also called for Covid-19 to be notifiable disease. She said it was important that workers have the full protection of the Health and Safety Authority.
However, Mr Kavanagh warned that despite the increase in capacity on buses, the rollout of commercial services will still be difficult because these services that need an occupancy rate of between 65 -70% to break even. It says the private owners of an estimated 4,500 vehicles that provide the service have "huge concerns" about whether children or teachers will be allowed use private coaches for services like trips to swimming and matches, day trips and other school excursions.