EVERYONE living and working in Limerick can defeat Covid-19 by working together and following public health advice, Limerick Fine Gael Kieran O’Donnell has said.
Deputy Kieran O’Donnell said, “The Government’s initiative – Resilience & Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with Covid-19 – will guide Ireland’s response to saving lives and managing the pandemic over the next seven months.
“We can overcome this. We can beat Covid-19 but it will take hard work and a commitment from all. We have already shown this year how we can work together,“Deputy O’Donnell said.
The Government’s plan sets how all in Limerick can manage the disease in their communities over the coming months.
The plan sets out five levels of response, each with a number of measures designed to help lower Covid-19 transmission, and also sets out what is permitted at that moment in time. At the moment, Limerick is on level two.
“The plan, if followed by all, aims to allow society and businesses to be able to operate as normally as possible, while continuing to suppress the virus. In particular, keeping schools, early learning and childcare services open are a top priority. We want to keep people in work and businesses operating, as we need a functioning economy to maintain our public services.
“Each level outlines what is permitted for social or family gatherings, work and public transport, bars, hotels and restaurants, exercise activities and religious services.
“Our country is soon entering the Winter months and we need to make every possible effort to make life easier for all.
“Please obey the advice of the public health professionals. We are all working for the same goal here – to defeat this pandemic and get our lives back to normal. It will take time but, working together, we can achieve this,” Deputy Kieran O’Donnell concluded.
Cabinet also agreed this week to allocate a record €600 million for the 2020 Winter Initiative, to ensure that our health service has the capacity and resources needed to deal with what is forecast to be a particularly challenging few months.
Fine Gael leader and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said, “From the beginning, we knew we were in this together, now we need to know how we can get through this together aswell.
“Unfortunately, nothing is certain about Covid-19, it cares little for our plans, however we have reasons to be hopeful as a country. We’re guided by all we’ve learned about the virus in the past few months and we have confidence that we can do this because of what we have learned about each other.
“We’ve changed the way we live, the way we work, and today’s plan sets out the steps to keep the virus under control, how we can anticipate and understand how to live our lives for the next six to nine months, and where setbacks occur, the steps that will be taken to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading out of control.
“This is a plan to protect you, your family and friends, our community, our jobs and businesses,” the Tánaiste said.
