Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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30. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if a matter will be addressed in relation to the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5728/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Under Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID-19, only essential retail outlets will remain open.  Further information can be found on https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/2dc71-level-5/.  The decision to move to full scale Level 5 was not taken lightly and all factors were considered. All measures in Level 5 will stay in place until at least March 5 2021.

S.I. No. 701 of 2020 Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (COVID-19) (No. 10) Regulations 2020 and S.I. No. 4 of 2021 Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (COVID-19) (No. 10) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 () clearly sets out the temporary restrictions under Level 5. A list of essential services can be found at and the list of essential retail outlets at Level 5 can be found at

Level 5 does not restrict people from purchasing any product, it does however restrict people from physically going into non-essential stores.  This is to stop people making unnecessary journeys, congregating and browsing for non-essential goods, to limit the spread of the virus.

My colleague Minister English has met regularly with Retail Forum members and representatives from the retail, grocery and distribution sector to continuously assess adherence to the public health restrictions.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) ‘The Work Safely Protocol’ incorporates the current advice on the Public Health measures needed to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the community and workplaces. The Protocol is available on www.gov.ie. The HSA is the lead agency in overseeing compliance with the Protocol in the workplace.  If employers or employees need further guidance on the Protocol, the HSA Helpline can be contacted at 1890 289 389 or wcu@hsa.ie

In addition, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) have also produced two guidance documents, one for the retail Sector and one for Shopping Centres. Both documents can be found on www.nsai.ie

The Government has introduced a wide range of supports to help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and they can be found on my Department’s website https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/What-We-Do/Supports-for-SMEs/COVID-19-supports/. 

I would like to thank retailers and their customers for their efforts at this difficult time. By each of us following the spirit of these new rules and working together we can hopefully return to a lower level of the Living with COVID-19 framework.