Coronavirus: Gardaí get power to close pubs breaching Covid-19 rules

Gardaí (Irish police) have been granted legal powers to close restaurants and pubs not adhering to regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The legislation came into force after the Criminal Justice Enforcement Powers Covid-19 Bill was signed into law.

It comes as the taoiseach (Irish PM) warned his government would not be afraid to implement special restrictions in Dublin.

More than half of the new cases on Friday were recorded in Dublin.

Micheál Martin said ministers had learned from their actions during earlier clampdowns in Kildare, Offaly and Laois.

Two further deaths and 159 cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the Republic on Saturday.

Ireland's total number of cases stands at 30,730, with 1,783 deaths.

On Saturday, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland announced that there were 104 new cases of Covid-19 diagnosed during the previous 24 hours. The number of deaths is not updated at the weekend.

According to the Department of Health, the total number of recorded coronavirus cases in Northern Ireland is 8,227 and the number of deaths remains at 568.

Ireland's Chief Medical Officer has warned people living in the city to take "immediate action" to break the chain of transmission.

Dr Ronan Glynn said the virus was growing by 4% in the capital and was being driven by household clusters.

He warned if things were to continue in this trend, the number of new cases in Dublin would double over the next 14 days.

Mr Martin told RTÉ "the most important thing about Dublin is how to get to grips with the virus to lower the number of cases and to put pressure on the virus."

He said: "This provides a window of opportunity for us to bring the current trajectory of disease under control.

"To do so we need to act now to break the chains of transmission," he added.

Of the cases notified in the Ireland on Saturday:

The remaining 46 cases are in Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Mayo, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath and Wicklow.

Dr Glynn said: "For the people of Dublin in particular, this is a critical moment to address the spread of the disease in the community."

"Individual choices can make all the difference - reconsider your plans for the weekend, reduce the number of people that you meet and avoid social activities that involve large groups of people," he added.