Stormont agrees to indicative date of July 26 to lift more Covid restrictions
Find out what's left to be lifted...
Last updated 8th Jul 2021
The Executive met on Thursday afternoon to discuss the lifting of more restrictions across Northern Ireland.
Ministers have agreed that from July 26th further relaxations will take place across Northern Ireland, however this will be subject to approval on July 22nd.
DUP First Minister Paul Givan said July 26th would be a "very significant'' day for Northern Ireland's journey back to normality.
He said his party had wanted to see some of the restrictions relaxed at a quicker pace, citing limits on domestic indoor gatherings and the return of concert venues as two examples.
"It's clear on some issues we would like to see progress being made at a faster pace and we believe that that's backed up by all of the data and the scientific evidence, the impact on our economy, the impact on family and wider society that these changes can happen at a faster rate,'' he said.
"Other ministers have decided that they want to move forward at a slower pace so we did land on a road map which now has July 26th as a very significant date.''
Subject to approval, the following changes will be made:
🎭Theatres reopen with mitigations
🏢Return of conferences
🎤Live music will be permitted indoors with no restrictions on sound levels.
🏡An Increase on the number of people allowed to meet at home
💇♀️Close contact services will no longer have to operate on an appointment basis only
😷The removal requirement for face coverings to be worn in places of worship
✈️People who have received both vaccines returning to Northern Ireland from countries on the Amber list won’t need to isolate.
Following the July 22nd ratification meeting, Mr Givan said ministers would meet again on August 12th with the intention of pushing ahead with further relaxations on August 16th.
"Certainly we're well on the way in terms of our road map out of these restrictions before the end of the summer,'' he added.
Michelle O'Neill said Stormont ministers could not predict when all the restrictions would come to an end in Northern Ireland.
"In terms of an end date, I wish I had a crystal ball and I wish I could say today there's going to be an end date. We don't have that, we're not there yet, so what we'll do is each three-week interval we'll come back to a fresh set of decisions.
"I think we've got a number of intervals to go before we can get towards the end.''
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Ministers to consider more Covid-19 relaxations