Travel for Irish people to countries where Covid-19 has been successfully supressed will return in a number of weeks, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys has said.

Travel for Irish people to countries where Covid-19 has been successfully supressed will return in a number of weeks, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys has said.
Minister Humphreys told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the Government plans to reintroduce air travel through “airbridges”, which will allow travel to countries where the curve has been “flattened” to the same degree as it has here.
She said she would not encourage people to book holidays yet, but she said plans are in place and will be activated as soon as it is safe to do so.
She said it is a challenging time for everyone and the “virus has no mercy” but we are behind other countries “at the stage we are at” and this is why we are slower to ease restrictions.
The minister said that she fully understands the concerns of retailers in shopping centres and she will be making the case for them to the Cabinet later today to reopen.
She said that there remains a concern around people congregating in confined spaces and perhaps mitigating measures can be looked at to deal with that issue.
“It’s all up for discussion today”, she said.
She said that businesses have co-operated very well to date and she expects this to continue.
Minister Humphreys said ahead of re-opening, small busineses should take two measures now.
Firstly, she said they should apply immediately for the Government restart cash grant from €2,000 to €10,000, which is easily done via the local authority websites.
She also urged businesses to get on the Temprary Wage Subsidy Shceme, which will pay for up to 85% for staff salaries and can free cash up for other expenses.
Minister Humphreys has confirmed the Pandemic Unemployemnt Payment will be subject to changes for part-time workers, but that they will not be worse off than they are now.
She said the PUP of €350 will remain in place “for months not weeks” for full-time workers.
She said it will run past 8 June and the Government will confirm the extension of that scheme this morning.She urged people to “stay local and shop local” and support those retailers who have suffered through the last few months. 
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The Cabinet will meet this morning to decide whether to move to Phase 2 of the Government’s roadmap for reopening the country, as well as passing a small number of additional measures from later phases.
Minister for Health Simon Harris said last night that “all the indicators look very good” for such decisions to be taken.
However, he added it would be considered in line with the latest public health advice from the Chief Medical Officer and his team.
If Phase 2 happens on Monday, he indicated the Government advice to the public would change from “stay at home” to “stay local”.
Mr Harris said “hopefully” the Cabinet will be able to take a series of decisions today that will bring big benefits to everyone in Irish society.
He said this was based on “encouraging” signs, such as the low reproductive rate of Covid-19, which is less than one, and the lower levels of hospitalisation. 
Under Phase 2, the travel limit would increase from 5 to 20km; up to four people could visit another household for a short period of time; people over 70 could also have a small number of people visit their homes.
Minister Harris said that while it was not a position anyone in Government wanted to find themselves in, he had to stress that social distancing is still followed during house visits, so people do not make each other accidentally sick.
He said a small number of additional measures were likely to be passed. These are understood to be the opening of playgrounds, summer camps and the opening of big retail outlets with access onto streets. 
Mr Harris appealed to people to continue to be responsible as shops reopen, saying just because a shop returns, it does not mean we all have to go there at the same time.
Yesterday, the Department of Health said a further five people who had previously been diagnosed with Covid-19 have died. 
It brings the overall death toll to 1,664. 
The department also said there was an additional 38 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, bringing the overall total number of cases here to 25,142.
Around 80% of cases of Covid-19 will be a mild to moderate illness, close to 14% have severe disease and around 6% are critical. 
Generally, you need to be 15 minutes or more in the vicinity of an infected person and within two metres of them, to be considered at-risk, or a close contact. 
Additional reporting Paul Cunningham