Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate how difficult it must be for retailers, hairdressers, barbers and any business that has been closed during this period for a second time this year. It is extremely difficult for the people who work in and own these businesses. From the Government’s point of view, we would like to be in a position to give people as much certainty as soon as possible. The problem with this virus and the nature of this pandemic is that it is uncertain. We would love to be able to say with certainty to people that they can open their business on a particular date but we are just not at that point yet. We are only into the third week of a six-week period of restrictions. We will need to see more data for the next couple of weeks before we can let people know when and what can be reopened. We will give people as much advance notice as possible so that the they can let their staff know to be available, buy in stock and make all the preparations they need to make.

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