Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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377. To ask the Minister for Health the rationale behind the current guidance in relation to attendance at funerals and weddings. [42095/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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You will be aware that the situation regarding COVID-19 has been, and continues to be, an evolving situation. COVID-19 is still having a major impact both here in Ireland and elsewhere.

On Tuesday 15 September the Government published ‘Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19’. This Plan outlines our medium-term strategy for COVID-19 and sets out a Framework of 5 Levels which outline the broad measures which will apply depending on the level of the virus at any given time. The Plan is designed to help everyone – individuals, organisations and sectors – to better understand, anticipate and prepare for the measures that might be introduced to contain transmission of the virus.

Any measures introduced at any level of the Plan are aimed at limiting the spread and damage of COVID-19, and are necessary to protect our key priorities of supporting and maintaining health and social care services, keeping education and childcare services open and protecting the most vulnerable members of our communities. 

As I'm sure the Deputy can appreciate, COVID-19 spreads when individuals and groups come into close contact with one another, enabling the virus to move from one person to another. COVID-19 is infectious in a person with no symptoms, or for the period of time before they develop symptoms. The number of people allowed to gather in different scenarios in the Government's Framework are based on a review of international practice and the judgment of public health experts. It seeks to balance the risks of different types of gatherings against the desire to allow normal activities to proceed in so far as possible. 

With regard to weddings and funerals, restrictions apply at all Levels and these restrictions are set out in the Plan. At present, in Level 3, weddings can go ahead with a limit of 25 guests while up to 25 mourners may attend funerals.

The Plan is clear that sectoral guidance also applies and in the case of weddings, guidance from Fáilte Ireland should also be considered: .