Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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1619. To ask the Minister for Health the reason restrictions allow persons to meet outside but not in a private garden. [18462/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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NPHET has consistently advised that outdoor settings are safer than indoor ones. However, it is important to note that while outdoors is safer, it is not risk-free and the same level of risk does not necessarily apply to all outdoor gatherings, activities or environments.

Throughout the pandemic, public health measures have differentiated between outdoor gatherings in public settings and in private gardens. The measures that have applied to a household setting have generally also applied to private gardens. This is in recognition of the increased risk that a gathering in a private garden will be accompanied by or result in interhousehold mixing indoors in the household setting.