Briefing on the government's response to COVID-19 - Monday 15 June 2020

Delivered by Elizabeth Canavan, Assistant Secretary General, Department of the Taoiseach

Good Morning,

After the first week of getting back to some kind of normality, it is worth remarking on the incredible time we have all just been through, and the incredible effort that we have all been making to keep everyone safe.

It is great to finally be able to get out and about and to meet friends and loved ones in something closer to the usual ways. Of course, it isn’t life quite as we know it and that is still hard. There are still many individuals and businesses waiting to get back to work and we have a couple of more weeks to go for them and longer for others.

You will see, as we have, how cautious many businesses are being in reopening, trying to keep you safe and trying to keep their staff safe.

For those still waiting for the okay to proceed, we need to try to hang on to the good habits we have adopted over the last few months.

They seem very small, but they do require a continued effort, and they are the most important ways we can continue to protect ourselves and those around us:

• wash your hands regularly and thoroughly
• maintain social distancing. As we begin to re-enter the homes of our friends and loved ones we cannot overlook the importance of the two metre rule - especially where we are allowed to once again visit those who are over 70 or medically vulnerable
• practice good cough and sneeze etiquette

There has been a lot of talk about face coverings over the last few weeks. I want to reiterate the advice that face coverings are recommended for those who can wear them. These are especially important when you are in situations where it is going to be difficult to maintain physical distance.

For most of us, this is in a small number of situations such as on public transport and in other enclosed spaces like retail outlets.

Face coverings are there to protect others from the risk of infection you might be carrying. You may not even be displaying symptoms.

It is important how you use your face mask or other covering.

It is important how you dispose of it and if it’s resuable, how you keep it clean.

Advice on all of this, including how to make your own face covering is available here.

Finally, remember, if you begin to display symptoms you need to self-isolate and contact your GP by phone as soon as possible and try to keep track of who you have been in contact with in the couple of days before you began to feel ill.

Even though we can move around a bit more, meet more people and participate in more activities it is still really important that we try to limit the number of close contacts that we have, and that we stay safe and stay local.

An estimated 400,000 employees are currently being supported by the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. Over 60,600 employers are now registered.

Today (15 June), Revenue has generated further payments to employers under the scheme of €15.2 million.

These payments will be in the bank accounts of the majority of the respective employers tomorrow (16 June).

The cumulative value of payments made to employers under the scheme is €1.5 billion.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the government has introduced a raft of measures aimed at supporting business during the crisis.

The take up of these schemes continues to be strong. There are many supports available and the Item was unpublished or removed and the Microfinance Ireland loan are particularly useful for small businesses.

To date, a total of 2,157 applications have been approved by the Local Enterprise Offices for the Item was unpublished or removed to a value of over €5 million. The Local Enterprise Offices received 3 years worth of applications in 3 months.

Microfinance Ireland have approved 509 loan applications with a value of over €13 million. MFI lending has increased by 600% since COVID-19.

For more information on the different supports available for business go to gov.ie.

On Friday, the Department of Agriculture announced the allocation of €50 million to provide for a support scheme for beef finishing farms which have been severely impacted by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Farmers with finished animals have suffered a dual impact over recent months: reduced prices and a reduced kill.

This support for the beef sector is an emergency response to a dramatic economic shock, to mitigate the worst COVID-19 economic impacts on these farm enterprises.

Beef farming is a significant economic contributor to local rural economies, and thus is more important than ever in sustaining these communities as we work towards economic recovery.

The department will be engaging with stakeholders in relation to the details of the scheme to be developed, which must also submitted to the EU for state aid approval under the COVID-19 Temporary State Aid Framework.

Today, approximately 498,700 people who were unemployed last week will receive their weekly payment of €350 under the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment scheme.

This is a reduction of over 18,000 on the number of people paid last week.

This payment will be available tomorrow 16 June in their nominated bank account or Post Office.

The overall value of the weekly payment is in the region of €175 million.

Last week, approximately 26,000 people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment closed their claim as they had returned to work.

Approximately 21,900 of these are receiving their last unemployment payment this week because they were unemployed in the payment week.

In total, 108,000 people have closed their claim and indicated that they are returning to work since the commencement of Phase 1.

If you are returning to work today, you should close your claim as you return to work. If you are starting work later in the week, you should close your claim on the day you return to employment.

You can close your employment payment through gov.ie.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has announced changes to make rent supplement more easily available to victims of domestic violence.

Under these changes, victims of domestic violence can get immediate access to Rent Supplement for a three-month period to ensure that they are not prevented from leaving their home because of financial concerns.

An agreed protocol will be drawn up with TUSLA to enable services funded by the Agency to make referrals to the department for access to Rent Supplement for victims of domestic violence through a dedicated channel.

Direct referrals will also be accepted through nominated contact points in An Garda Síochána and the HSE.

The Community Call Fora, run by the local authorities, continue to operate.

Nationally, since 31 March, the Community Call Fora have received over 48,000 calls and have made nearly 19,000 follow-up calls.

Helplines operate from 9am to 5pm seven days a week. You can find your local helpline number here.

The Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht announced funding of €32,000 to support a new series of live events, beginning tonight across 40 consecutive nights that will showcase the new and emerging talent that Ireland has to offer in 2020.

The Hot Press Lockdown Young and Emerging Series will see forty young and emerging acts join Hot Press on Instagram for a special live performance to be broadcast to Ireland and the world from their own homes.

The Series aims to support a new generation of musicians by delivering 40 paid gigs to 40 acts over 40 days.

Each showcase will be broadcast live, to Ireland and the world, at 7.30pm from the Hot Press Instagram starting tonight.

We know how anxious people are to get back to sport, but also want to be confident that it is safe to do so, especially so if you are a parent and want your children to get back to some of their usual activities.

Sport Ireland has developed a new Return to Sport COVID-19 Awareness eLearning Course.

The course has been designed by Sport Ireland to support administrators, volunteers, coaches and participants in the return to sport during Phase 2 in a safe and practical manner.

Course content includes hand and equipment hygiene, contact tracing and recording attendance.

Sport Ireland will also be providing a blend of classroom based and online learning opportunities for National Governing Bodies of Sport, Local Sports Partnerships, Club and Community Groups, Coaches, Volunteers & Participants in the coming days and weeks.

The new online course is free and available to all. See here for more details.

On Friday, the government announced a new Summer Provision 2020.

Summer Provision 2020 will involve three strands with different options for parents, students and schools:

• in-school or home-based supports by teachers and SNAs to help prevent regression among children with special needs
• an opportunity for all 890 DEIS schools to provide summer camps, including a numeracy and literacy programme for primary pupils and a programme of re-engagement for post-primary students
• the third is led by the HSE and will aim to provide summer camp type supports to up to 1,200 children with complex needs

The following children with special needs will be eligible for the first strand of the Summer Provision as part of in-school and home-based programmes:

• students with autism or severe and profound learning difficulties
• children in special classes in primary schools and special schools
• children transitioning from early years into a special class in primary school or special school
• primary pupils in mainstream classes who present with Down syndrome, students who are deaf or most severe hard of hearing, students who are blind or have most severe visual impairment, children with a moderate general learning disability or those diagnosed with a severe emotional behavioural difficulty

If possible, school transport will be provided to support the programme where appropriate. Departments are also finalising plans to provide the Schools Meals Programme for schools taking part in Summer Provision 2020.

A dedicated online registration system for families of children with special needs to access Summer Provision is being made available on Item was unpublished or removed

As I mentioned last week, early learning and childcare services will start to reopen from 29 June. In preparation for this and for the reopening of pre-school and school in September, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Education and Skills are launching Let’s Get Ready - a gov.ie resource to support young children and their parents or guardians.

The website at gov.ie/letsgetready has guidance for children and parents returning to early learning and childcare, with a particular focus on new public health requirements introduced in response to COVID-19.

It also focuses on children preparing to attend pre-school or primary school for the first time from this September.

As part of Let’s Get Ready, a transitions pack for children starting primary school is soon to be distributed through a range of channels.

The Let’s Get Ready website will be updated regularly with new supports and material.

From today (15 June), we are allowed to visit our loved ones in residential care facilities including nursing homes. We know that this has been a particularly difficult time for families who have a family member in long term care. At the same time, we want to make sure that we can resume visits safely.

All facilities have been working to put systems in place to ensure the safety of residents, staff and visitors. There will be different arrangements in different facilities which will be tailored to their service and physical environment and indeed their experience of COVID-19. Be sure to call in advance before deciding to visit your loved ones and find out what the local arrangements are.

You are asked to be patient with providers who are trying to find the right balance of as “normal” an experience as possible and the safety of your loved one and everyone in the facility.

The Passport Service has now started a phased return to full operation. This planning is in line with the wider Government Roadmap.

The Passport Service resumed the processing of non-essential online applications on 9 June and produced over 12,000 passports in the first week of operation.

There are currently 32,000 applications in the system being processed.

The Passport Service informs us that online service will be meeting its usual turnaround times of approximately two weeks by the end of the month.

Given the logistical complications of processing of paper applications these will not resume until later in the summer.

Retail outlets within shopping centres are reopening this morning as you know. New guidelines were published by the National Standards Authority of Ireland to ensure the safety of shoppers, retail and other staff.

You will notice new signage and systems in shopping centres. Numbers will be restricted and queuing for shops may be necessary.

We know that shopping, in general, is going to be a different experience but please bear in mind the importance of these measures for keeping everyone safe and co-operate with staff who are working to keep you safe.

A key concern is to avoid large groups congregation so bear this in mind as you shop and avoid busy areas in shops as much as you can.

You can find a link to the COVID-19 Shopping Centre Recovery and Protection Guide on gov.ie.

The HSE is issuing letters today to more than 5,000 people inviting them to participate in the Study to Investigate COVID-19 Infection in People Living in Ireland (SCOPI). The study will measure exposure to COVID-19 infection in the population using an antibody blood test.

The letters are being sent to people in Dublin and Sligo. These areas have been chosen as sample locations as they represent areas of the country with higher and lower known levels of infection respectively.

Using a representative sample of participants in both locations, it will be possible to provide an overall national estimate of infection in the Irish population.

The intention is to repeat the antibody research in other areas of the country over the coming year.

Initial results are expected in late August and will enable the Health Protection Surveillance Centre to estimate the level or prevalence of infection of COVID-19 in the population across different age groups.

So thanks again for all you are doing. Every individual effort is contributing to the progress we are making in reopening society and the economy.