Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2021
853. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Health if therapeutic horse-riding sessions for children with autism is allowed to continue under level 5 restrictions; and if families can travel outside the designated 5 km limit to avail of such services. [11529/21]
View answerAs you will be aware, the public health restrictions at level 5 of the Government's Framework Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19 will remain in place until 5th April 2021, when a further review will be conducted. The Framework continues to provide an appropriate mechanism to guide decision-making, and it will continue to be supplemented by more detailed sectoral guidance in relation to measures that apply at each level of the Framework.
On 23 February, 2021, the Government published COVID-19 Resilience & Recovery 2021: The Path Ahead which sets out how in-school education and childcare services will be reinstated in a phased manner from 1 March, with staggered return throughout March to be concluded after the Easter break on 12 April. Information on the revised plan is available here – https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/c4876-covid-19-resilience-and-recovery-2021-the-path-ahead/?referrer=http://www.gov.ie/ThePathAhead/.
Under the public health restrictions at level 5, all non-essential retail, and all non-essential services must remain closed. Information in relation to essential retail/essential services at level 5 is available at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/c9158-essential-services/.
At level 5, people are asked to stay at home as much as possible unless they have a "reasonable excuse" for leaving. The Regulations providing for these measures are set out in S.I. No. 701 of 2020. Regulation 4. of SI 701 sets out a non-exhaustive list of reasonable excuses for leaving one’s home. This non-exhaustive list includes at 4. (2) (k) to attend to vital family matters, including the provision of care to a vulnerable person.
It is important to note that any essential travel should be undertaken with due regard to public health safety measures.
