Leo Varadkar has confirmed that face masks will not be made mandatory again as they ‘won’t make a huge difference’.
The Tanaiste appeared on RTE Prime Time on Thursday night and said that mandating face masks would only make a small difference as people will not be wearing them in settings where they are most likely to catch Covid, such as at home.
He also said that it was "no longer appropriate" for Government to enforce a rule on wearing masks in certain settings as we are no longer in a public health emergency.
The Fine Gael leader was interviewed by Fran McNulty over video link as he finished up his seven-day isolation period after testing positive for Covid last week and will be "out and about" tomorrow.
Mr Varadkar said that the Government had received good news from the the CMO, Dr Tony Holohan, on Thursday with information indicating that we are now "close to or even past the peak" of the second Omicron wave.
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“In the current context, it is no longer appropriate to say to people that if you don’t wear a mask, we’re going to prosecute you or fine you or potentially arrest you.," he said.
“The emergency legislation that we introduced for the pandemic, those emergency powers that the government took, they fall tonight and they are not being reviewed.
“We are encouraging people to wear masks. We do know that masks can help to reduce the spread of the virus and we are saying to people in public transport and and healthcare settings, and even in other crowded indoor spaces to wear masks, to wear masks.
“But we are also realistic that it will only make a very small difference because most people get this virus at home.
“People aren’t going to be wearing masks at home and in indoor settings where it spreads the most like pubs and nightclubs and restaurants, and so on, because they’re eating and drinking.”
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He also said the government would not be mandating any new public health restrictions, including masks, but are encouraging people to wear them in crowded spaces.
“We’re not mandating any new public health restrictions and that includes masks," he said. "We are moving into a different phase of of this pandemic where it’s about living with the virus and that’s around encouraging people and educating them and asking them to do the right thing.
"That is get vaccinate, isolate if you’re sick and wear a mask in certain circumstances, it’s good ventilation, it’s getting outdoors.
“Thankfully, we’re not in the space where we need to threaten people with prosecution or criminal sanction.
“We’ve moved beyond that now, this is a virus that has evolved. It’s not as severe as it used to be and we’ve built up a lot of immunity because of the vaccines and because of the exposure to the virus.
“The only thing now that would change that would be a totally new variant that has significant immune-vaccine escape.”
When McNulty asked Varadkar if he would wear a mask in the Dail bar, he said: “I will [wear the mask] and I will take it off when I drink my coffee and eat my sandwich and that, in reality, is why it won’t make a huge difference.
“But of course I will follow the advice of the people who run the bar.”
