Ireland | COVID-19 | Irish Government Announces Roadmap for Reopening Society and Businesses following Covid-19

The Tuesday May 5th 2020’s Daily Briefing , delivered by Elizabeth Canavan, Assistant Secretary General from the Department of the Taoiseach, provided additional details about the Roadmap for Reoping published May 1, 2020 and explained additional measures to continue to help Irish Buisinesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Irish government announced the start of measures aimed to reopen society and buisnesses. Starting on the 5 May 2020, the cocooning measured are relaxed and allow for traveling up to 5km from your home for excercise. The Roadmap set up by the government is devided into 5 phases:

• 18 May (phase 1) : This first phase will notebly allow people working outdoors to return to work and for gatherings of no more than 4 people to start again.
• 8 June (phase 2) : With stricter hygene precautions, workers who wok on their own or who can maintain a safe 2m distance will be allowed to return to work. Social Distance still required. All others should work remotely.
• 29 June (phase 3) : Workplaces where there are low levels of daily interaction may reopen. Remote work is still ongoing for all who can and continues to be encouraged.
• 20 July (phase 4) : Employees who cannot work remotely can be considered first to return. Workplace measures to limit workers interacting are advised. Remote work should continue for all who can.
• 10 August (phase 5) : Phased return to work planned with special attention to ‘high risk’ organisations where social distancing is not entirely possible. Remote work is still encouraged for all possible.

More information available here In addition to the Roadmap, measures to further support impacted businesses were outlined. These include restart grants, warehousing of tax liabilities for 12 months after recommencement of trading and credit garrentee schemes. These are all outlined here. Some complemantary inforamtion was also provided at the full briefing which is available here.

• For other sources of information relating to Covid-19 please also refer to the Health and Safety Authority, including general contact information during the pandemic; the National Standards Authority of Ireland and the published resources on standards during Covid-19 ; The Department of Health has a collection of relevant information here
• The Irish National Accreditation Board also outlined their Covid-19 Process here

Sources:Gov.ie Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business (published May 3 2020) Daily Briefing May 5 2020 Gov.ie Government outlines further measures to support businesses impacted by COVID-19 (published May 2 2020) Covid-19 related Information

• the Health and Safety Authority, including general contact information during the pandemic;
• the National Standards Authority of Ireland;
• The Department of Health
• The Irish National Accreditation Board