Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland

[36] Music for Galway cancelled its annual Good Friday concert in the St Nicholas Collegiate Church, scheduled for 3 April, and its new nine-day Cellissimo festival dedicated to the cello was postponed until 2021.

[48] On 10 June, the first in a series of live pilot concerts took place at the Iveagh Gardens, Dublin, with James Vincent McMorrow and special guest Sorcha Richardson playing to 500 people at the show.

[50] On 3 July, over 3,500 people attended a pilot music festival featuring Gavin James, Denise Chaila and Sharon Shannon in Dublin, with antigen testing used for entry.

[65] Its exhibitions on Spanish Golden Age painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (a series of works shown for the first time in decades), as well as those on rare Italian seventeenth and eighteenth century travel guidebooks and Irish botanical art, were interrupted by the government-imposed closure.

[74] In the wake of fake news and rumours circulating online—including claims that a military-enforced "status red lockdown" would be enforced from 11:00 on Monday 16 March—ministers and the head of the Defence Forces made calls for people to be more responsible with the information they shared online and to only trust reputable sources.

[75][76] An Post indefinitely postponed its price increase on stamps (due to have started on 18 March), announced earlier opening hours on Fridays for OAPs to get their pensions and introduced measures to limit contact between customers and staff, including pausing the need for recipients of parcels to provide a signature.

[107] On 11 August, following a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on COVID-19, Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced that weekly COVID-19 testing would begin at meat processing plants and residents of direct provision centres.

[140] Also as part of Operation Fanacht, the Garda Air Support Unit (GASU) confirmed its helicopters were conducting aerial surveillance of locations suspected as being used by large numbers of people while not adhering to social distancing.

[176][177][178][179] Less than three weeks after the outbreak at its main hospital, HSE data confirmed that Cavan (a predominantly rural north-midlands county with a population of less than 80,000) had overtaken the capital city Dublin as the epicentre of the virus in Ireland.

[182] Persons of elderly inclination residing in the part of the country from the centre of Dublin city southwards towards north County Wexford could avail of a visit from an emergency department doctor if they wished to avoid hospitals overrun with the virus.

[201] On 13 January 2021, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) called for the Government to declare a national emergency and for all private hospital capacity to be fully nationalised into the public healthcare system as the number of hospitalisations doubled the peak of April 2020.

[237] Forklift manufacturer, Combilift (based in the north midlands town of Monaghan), designed a Combi-Ventilate splitter device intended to allow two patients to be treated together while also enabling medical professionals to control each person individually.

[240][241] In mid-April, a spokesperson for Moon Jae-in disclosed that Bono had written to the President of South Korea asking for items including personal protective equipment (PPE) and diagnostic kits which he would pay for on behalf of Ireland.

[242] Unsuitable PPE imported from China, such as gowns which did not cover the arms of their wearers, was delivered to COVID-19 testing centres, hospitals and ambulance units in Dublin, Donegal, Sligo, Galway and Limerick in late March and early April.

[254] On 5 April, The Irish Times reported on another high-profile applicant: it said that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar—in response to the recruitment drive—had rejoined the Medical Council the previous month, with the intention of working one day per week.

[259] In mid-April, volunteers from the Irish Red Cross assisted the HSE and Civil Defence in evacuating 19 residents from a care home in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, and their transfer to St Joseph's Community Hospital in Stranorlar, when staff were struck down by illness.

[282] On 22 October, a nursing home in Ahascragh, Ballinasloe, County Galway appealed to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for emergency staff after two residents admitted to Portiuncula University Hospital tested positive for COVID-19, which resulted in 42 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one death.

[309] On 15 March 2020, The Irish Times announced that its building on Tara Street in Dublin would close immediately as a staff member had just been confirmed to have tested COVID-19 positive, though the paper remained in print and its website continued to be updated.

[342][343][344] The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and affected the political system of the Republic of Ireland, causing suspensions of legislative activities and isolation of multiple politicians due to fears of spreading the virus.

[359] Pilgrims on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry (in the rural southwest of the country) gathered in search of a possible COVID-19 cure at holy wells dedicated to 6th-century St Fíonnán, who saved his people from a plague, and whose feast day occurs on 16 March (ahead of the earliest restrictions brought in to respond to the pandemic); "We like to take an aul' sup from the well and it's supposed to have some great healing properties", one resident told RTÉ News, another saying: "When I was young I remember a bottle of St Fíonnán's water was kept inside the front door.

[365][366] On 3 July, the Government of Ireland published new guidelines for churches and places of worship in order for them to safely accommodate more than 50 people at indoor services, including dividing the premises into subgroupings.

[385] Advice given by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) on 15 March prompted fertility clinics to shut, causing enormous disruption to IVF treatment.

[389] In April, the National Lottery extended by three months the time period during which it allowed people to collect their prizes from its Lotto, EuroMillions, Telly Bingo and Daily Million draws, effective from 9 January until 5 July.

[394] World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus personally thanked Ireland on 16 April after the country quadrupled its annual contribution, to €9.5 million, following Donald Trump's decision to suspend U.S.

[402] On 17 April, Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty announced that the General Register Office has put arrangements in place for parents to send in their birth registration forms by email or post.

[404] Following public and political pressure, Allianz, Axa, FBD, RSA and Zurich in late-April offered "relief" to drivers left stranded with vehicle insurance they could not make the most of due to restrictions on their movement.

[406] On 14 May, the Office of Public Works (OPW) announced it would be implementing temporary measures to ensure social distancing at Phoenix Park from the following Monday, as a result of "significant new road safety issues not experienced before" due to increased numbers of pedestrians and cyclists.

[408] On 18 May, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre of the HSE urged people to be aware of Legionnaires' disease which could be caused by bacterial growth on appliances left unused due to the pandemic.

[409] On the evening of 19 May, Prince Charles released a statement noting that it was with "particular sadness that, due to the current public health crisis", that himself and the Duchess Camilla could not partake of their annual visit to Ireland in 2020.

[413] On 4 October, the Irish Examiner reported that the Data Protection Commission had ruled that Wexford County Council broke the law by using UAV drones intended for illegal dumping to instead monitor caravan parks and holiday homes during the two-kilometre restrictions in April.