The Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that waiting lists for elective care could get longer over the coming months as Covid-19 "has knocked out 20-50%" of public health capacity.
However, Minister Donnelly said that the idea that public health restrictions are being introduced due to a lack of capacity in dealing with the virus is factually incorrect.
He said "the challenge this winter is not like anything we have faced before". Minister Donnelly told RTÉ's News at One that numbers of cases of the virus in Dublin are "beginning to stabilise" and he hopes that further restrictions are not needed in Dublin so that it can be returned to alert Level 2.