“The threat is growing,” Taoiseach Micheál Martin said.
The Cabinet has agreed to the advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team to move Dublin to Level 3 of Covid-19 restrictions.
The restrictions will be in place from midnight tonight for the next three weeks until Friday, 9 October.
Pubs and restaurants are only allowed to serve customers in outdoor areas, or offer a takeaway service until the restrictions are lifted.
People will only be allowed travel in and out of Dublin for essential work, education or care needs.
Visits to private homes are restricted of six people with a maximum of one other household.
No organised indoor gatherings should take place and outdoor gatherings should be limited to 15 people.
Visits to long term residential care facilities are suspended except for on compassionate grounds.
Weddings and funerals in Dublin will still be allowed 50 guests until Monday, but will drop to 25 from Monday.
Dublin colleges will carry out most of their teaching online and suspend all on-campus activities.
In a speech to the country on Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned that the virus is regaining a foothold in the country.
“Here, in our Capital, despite people’s best efforts over recent weeks, we are in a very dangerous place,” Martin said.
“Without further urgent and decisive action, there is a very real threat that Dublin could return to the worst days of this crisis.
The National Public Health Emergency Team advised on Thursday night that Dublin move to Level 3 of the governments Covid restrictions.
It comes as cases continue to climb in the capital over the past two weeks with Dublin accounting for three of every five new infections in the country.
The news was met with opposition from hospitality groups with the Restaurants Association of Ireland saying it was “devastating news”.
“This will cause chaos and economic collapse for thousands of small hospitality businesses, plus 50,000 job layoffs,” RAI CEO Adrian Cummins said on Twitter.
Commenting on the NPHET recommendation for additional restrictions, IBEC CEO Danny McCoy said: “Moving beyond Level 3 to a ‘3.5’ would undermine the credibility of the codified system, and framework process introduced this week, for the entire business community.
“It would damage the certainty which the framework was supposed to deliver and is worrying for businesses in all sectors of the economy across the entire country. Government’s decision must preserve and certainty and credibility of this week’s new framework.”
You can read the restrictions in full here on the government website.
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