International travel opens up
People began to jet off on foreign holidays this morning, with non-essential international travel resuming in Ireland.
For travel within the European Union and European Economic Area, a digital Covid certificate system is now in place for citizens.
For many, it marks the first time in more than 16 months that they have taken to the skies and left the island.
However, a virology expert has warned that the return of international travel might be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” and said public health should be arranged to better suppress coronavirus.
CervicalCheck delays
The clinical director of CervicalCheck has said social distancing restrictions led to delays in a sample processing centre, which resulted in the expiry of a number of samples.
A capacity issue in the national cervical screening service led to around 200 women's samples going out of date.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, CervicalCheck’s Dr Nóirín Russell said the laboratory had to adhere to social distancing measures due to Covid-19, which meant fewer staff working and carrying out tests.
Dogs are not just for lockdown
There has been a major surge in people seeking to give up their dog as lockdown restrictions end in Ireland, according to Dogs Trust.
The dog welfare charity said it had received 515 requests from people looking to surrender their dog over the last three months – a 212 per cent increase on 165 requests for the same period last year.
Much of the surge was seen in June alone, with “an alarming” 240 requests received from people looking to give up their dog over the month, averaging out as eight per day.
Heatwave continues
The heatwave which brought high temperatures in recent days is set to continue for the rest of the week and may see the mercury soar above 30 degrees, according to Met Éireann.
The sunshine brought bumper-to-bumper traffic to many beaches and beauty spots over the weekend
While Met Éireann’s high temperature advisory is in place until Friday, this may be upgraded to a temperature warning later this week if the heat continues to rise.
Water supply
Homes and businesses in Drogheda, Co Louth, and some surrounding areas are without water due to what Irish Water says is “a major burst in a water main”.
In a statement on Monday morning, Irish Water said it had “identified a major burst in a water main in Drogheda and is working with Louth County Council to restore water as quickly as possible to impacted customers.”
The disruption comes amid wider supply issues in the network, with homeowners across the State urged to conserve water amid a surge in demand due to warm weather.
