Pubs and restaurants must now close at 11pm

All restaurants and pubs with food across Donegal and the rest of the country must now close at 11pm.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin made the announcement as the Government pushed back phase four for three weeks at least.

The advice came from NPHET and all customers will now have to be out of restaurants and pubs by 11pm.

Delivery services can remain open until later while staff can remain on the premises to clean up and perform other services.

And Mr Martin said while it is the Government’s objective to open pubs this year he “cannot guarantee” it.

Micheal Martin said allowing pubs to reopen would be “damaging for our plan to reopen schools safely and would of course be very damaging for our public health.”

Martin said the decision “will come as a bitter disappointment to many” but added we are doing what we are doing to save lives.