TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar is to make a live, televised address to the nation at 9pm on the coronavirus crisis.
The rare, Ministerial Broadcast is being beamed out on RTÉ and Virgin Media.
The broadcast will be made under Section 112 of the Broadcast Act, which provides broadcast time for the Government in the event of a major emergency.
In an earlier social media post announcing the broadcast, Varadkar said that today had been a ‘Patrick’s Day like no other’.
There were a total of 69 new coronavirus cases confirmed today, with five of those in the north-west.
The overall number of cases in the Republic of Ireland is now 292 and a total of 6,636 Covid-19 tests have been carried out.
With 62 confirmed cases in Norther Ireland, there are now 354 cases on the island of Ireland.