Restrictions on people travelling between counties and limits on household visitors are expected to be eased for Christmas, under plans for a staggered exit from lockdown being examined by the Government.

Earlier this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed moving to Level 3 of the phased Living with Covid-19 plan by December 1st was the "target."

Under Level 3, people are required to stay within their county unless travelling for work, education, or other essential reasons, and home visits are limited to one other household.

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The Government is expected to consider further easing of restrictions on travel between counties and household visits specifically for the Christmas period in late December, sources said.

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This would allow families to celebrate Christmas together where people live in different counties, and to some extent for people to meet up and socialise with friends.

Speaking on Friday, Mr Martin said people will not be “going on the lash” or to Christmas parties, when Ireland emerges from lockdown next month.

The plan to exit Level 5 was still being worked out, and the Government would give people notice of what restrictions would be in place before December 1st, so they can make preparations, he said.

“The fact that we are doing well gives us flexibility… I want a meaningful Christmas, we can’t be at Level 5 forever,” he told RTÉ’s News at One.

“We’re all on trust here. We’ve learned from Level 2, what worked and what didn’t work,” he said. People won’t be “going on the lash”, or to Christmas parties, he said. “It will not be the same Christmas as last year.”

Churches and pubs

Mr Martin said he expected churches would be open for religious services in Christmas week. He also said he would prefer for lockdown measures to be lifted nationally, rather than at different times on a regional basis.

Mr Martin said reopening pubs that did not serve food would be challenging and faced “real issues”.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will consider what level of easing of limits on family and social gatherings could be permitted over the holiday period.

One Government source said the timing of any relaxation of limits on cross-county travel and household visits, or family gatherings was still uncertain.

Another source cautioned that while a “number of options” were being considered for the Christmas period, the decision would ultimately be taken in the last week of November, adding: “The lower we can get the case numbers, R-rate, hospitalisations, the more flexibility the Government will have. We’ve another three weeks to go and the trend is positive.”

Announcing the six-week national lockdown on October 19th, Mr Martin urged people to pull together in order to suppress the spread of the coronavirus, to allow the country “to celebrate Christmas in a meaningful way.”

The extent to which current measures will be eased from the start of December will depend on Nphet’s modelling on the virus at the end of this month, sources said.

It is expected that restaurants and pubs that serve food will be permitted to reopen, however officials have signalled drink-only pubs may still be limited to takeaway services.

Retaining current restrictions for the so-called “wet pubs” is likely to be strongly opposed by the vintners lobby, who have said not allowing all pubs to reopen for the traditionally busy Christmas period will force many out of business.

Overseas travel

Speaking on Thursday, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said it was "too early" for people to be making plans for the Christmas season.

Large social gatherings involving alcohol and other “normal” Christmas activities, such as office parties and big family get-togethers, “are not going to be possible”, he said.

Dr Holohan also said Irish people living overseas should not plan to travel home this Christmas, due to the risk of importing Covid-19 cases into the country.

“Travel that would normally happen at Christmas would have to be regarded as non-essential this Christmas,” he said.

Similarly, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said people intending to come home from abroad for Christmas should not to book flights "at the moment," due to the uncertainty.

The aviation industry had “written off the next two months” and were instead preparing for Spring 2021, Mr Martin said. Echoing statements from Dr Holohan and Mr Varadkar, he said: “We don’t want lots of people travelling from red zones into Ireland.”

Commenting on the recent vote in the Northern Ireland Executive on the lifting of restrictions, Mr Martin said the cross community veto should not have been used in relation to public health. He said he had been in touch with the Northern Ireland Executive to express his concerns.

“From the get-go we’ve had different perspectives. I’m glad they’re continuing quite a number of the restrictions. Their numbers are worryingly high. The spillover effect is there,” he said.