A BAN on the sale of alcohol for the remainder of lockdown is currently being considered by government.
Alcohol could be unable for sale at a certain time of day, according to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
He admitted that Government officials are now working on new public health regulations to strengthen the law around drinking in streets to give gardaí more powers of enforcement.
On Wednesday, a number of new public health measures were introduced - adding to the already existing Level 5 restrictions - to try and combat the spread of Covid-19, including the closure of schools and construction across the country.
Varadkar admitted that, while it would be a last resort, the sale of alcohol could be next in line for a change.
"When it comes to selling takeaway alcohol, that's not illegal, anybody who's getting their takeaway, you can get your bottle of beer or bottle of wine with that, nobody wants to ban that," he said.
"We don't want to have to shut down the off licences and the pubs and say, 'You know, you can't sell bottles of beer, you can't sell cans for people to take home'.
"But they seem to be trying to get around it by giving out a pint with a lid on it. We're certainly going to reinforce the existing ban on people drinking outdoors on public streets."
It follows on from Taoiseach Micheál Martin telling the public on Wednesday to "forget about takeaway pints".
