The Government is expecting to spend up to €9 billion on expenditure related to Covid-19 next year, the Minister for Public Expenditure has confirmed to RTÉ News.
Michael McGrath brought a memo on expenditure strategy to Cabinet ahead of Budget 2021, which takes place in the middle of October.
The memo showed that just under €1bn remains to be carved up between Government Departments during the Budget estimates process.
Mr McGrath said this work will be extremely difficult this year given the extraordinary level of uncertainty.
He said the current overall budgetary framework also assumes a no-trade-deal Brexit.
"I am working to an envelope of €900m to meet pressures on existing services across all areas of government. This will be in addition to just over €1bn in pre-committed current expenditure measures and the planned €1bn increase in capital expenditure next year to support investment in the economy," he said.
Mr McGrath added that the backdrop to Budget 2021 is one of unprecedented uncertainty, but the government was aiming to protect citizens and the economy in the most effective way it could.
Earlier, the Minister for Transport said he hopes that cases of the coronavirus will start to stabilise and Dublin will be able to return to Level 2 of Covid-19 restrictions.
Speaking before this morning's Cabinet meeting at Dublin Castle, Eamon Ryan said he was more concerned about other counties outside the capital.
"What happened in Kildare, Laois and Offaly worked. When they put in stiffer restrictions the numbers came down, the counties were able to get out of that level. I'm hoping that can be the same here and in the rest of the country," the Green Party leader said.
Mr Ryan said that all of the decisions made last week would be reviewed by the Cabinet.
He said it was not always clear where the virus was coming from and that community transmission was occurring outside Dublin.
The minister urged people to halve their social contacts over the coming weeks.
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Earlier, Mr McGrath said no decisions in relation to increasing restrictions were going to be made at this morning's Cabinet meeting.
He said the Government has not received any advice at this time from the National Public Health Emergency Team to take any additional actions to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet this morning, he said it is timely to remind everyone to ask ourselves what more can we do to as "clearly the numbers are clearly going in the wrong direction".
Mr McGrath said that while nobody wants to see further measures imposed anywhere, there were concerning trends in some counties.
But he said the Government was not considering additional measures today.
Mr McGrath said that if there were "flagrant breaches" of regulations the Government would consider increasing the powers of gardaí. He said the law must be enforced in order to protect the vulnerable.
"If that is required, that is what we will do. We will examine what more might need to be done to make sure there are adequate powers and resources for gardaí to protect communities."
The minister said three weeks from the Budget, a lot of issues were under consideration in that context, including income supports and supports for businesses and the economy.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform @mmcgrathtd has said the Government has not received any advice at this time from NPHET to take any additional actions to curb the spread of #Covid19 | https://t.co/RT0AIDDbCn pic.twitter.com/6hV8CytBIB
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 22, 2020
It comes as the number of people being treated in hospitals for Covid-19 has risen further to 94.
That compares to a figure of 90 yesterday.
Of those cases, 16 patients are receiving treatment in intensive care units, down one from yesterday.
The latest figures show that while 10 people had been discharged from hospital over the last 24 hours, there were also 14 new admissions.
On this day last week, there were 65 people in hospital with the virus, of which 13 were in ICU.
Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive Paul Reid described the increase in hospitalisations as a "very concerning" trend.
Tonight there are 90 people hospitalised,19 in ICU (23 & 8, 4 weeks ago).This is a very concerning trend.Please ignore noises that relay otherwise.We all have to protect our family, friends & health workers from being the next number. Please let's do it. We can #COVID19 @HSELive
— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) September 21, 2020
Separately, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has recorded Ireland's 14-day coronavirus incidence rate at 68.2 per 100,000, a rise from yesterday's 14-day figure of 66.6.
Ireland ranks 15th out of the 31 countries listed by the ECDC. The UK's rate is 72.8, while the two worst-hit countries are Spain and Czech Republic, with 310.5 and 207 respectively.
Dublin accounted for 40% of the new cases.
However, the concerns of health officials are not just focused on the capital. There are worrying trends now being monitored in Louth, Offaly, Kildare, Wicklow, Waterford, Limerick, Leitrim and Donegal.
The HSE has said that what is important is that on any given day, there are enough ICU beds for care. It also said that the number of ICU beds may vary from day to day, as staff may be deployed to other wards.
Figures yesterday showed that there were 280 adult intensive care beds open and staffed in the system, for Covid-19 and non-Covid care.
There were also 30 ICU beds for children open and staffed. The system had 45 adult ICU and eight paediatric beds vacant for care.
In mid-April, the hospital system had 415 ICU beds open and staffed.
Extra ICU beds are expected to be provided for in the new HSE winter plan due to be published this week.
Additional reporting Fergal O'Brien
