COVID-19 death toll rises to 85
14 more people diagnosed with coronavirus have died in the Republic.
It brings the death toll here to 85.
212 new cases of the virus have also been confirmed here today, bringing the nationwide total to 3,447.
10 of the deaths happened in the east of the country and four in the South.
HSE apologises over COVID-19 test delays
The HSE has apologised to people left waiting for COVID-19 test results.
It comes after health officials confirmed that people outside of priority groups have been waiting up to ten days for a result.
This afternoon, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said global shortages of essential resources mean some delays were unavoidable.
“Because there is an international shortage of testing kits and reagents, we will run into delays from time to time,” he said.
SNAs to be redeployed as part of COVID-19 response
Some special need assistants (SNAs) are to be temporarily redeployed across the rest of the public sector to help frontline staff dealing with the coronavirus.
Staff not required for educational or research purposes will be asked to be on standby for reassignment elsewhere to "free up frontline workers for essential services", the Government has announced.
There are around 16,000 special needs assistants in Ireland, but it's expected the number reassigned will be much smaller.
It comes as schools in Ireland remain closed until at least April 20th in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus in communities.
Language students left with no COVID-19 supports
Dun Laoghaire TD Richard Boyd Barrett has warned that hundreds of students in language schools around the country are living in cramped conditions with no supports during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The People Before Profit representative said he was raising the issue at a briefing with the Minister for Education this evening.
It comes after an online survey among hundreds of students found that less than 1% had been offered money back after their language courses were cancelled due to the shutdown.
Some had paid up to €6,000 for eight months of language classes.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail hold “positive meeting”
The Taoiseach says he hopes a joint document on government formation will be agreed between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil this week or next.
Leo Varadkar says that will then allow them to talk to the Labour Party, Greens, or Social Democrats about forming a coalition.
It comes as the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil this afternoon held a "positive meeting and discussion on policy issues".
The parties said they "both agreed to keep the dialogue confidential and will be in contact over the next few days".
