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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Full crowds to return as government set to lift spectator restrictions

All indoor and outdoor sporting events will resume to full capacity from tomorrow.

Munster Rugby will be the first big beneficiary of the move, which is one of a suite of changes announced this evening by Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

The province hosts Wasps in their final Champions Cup pool game at Thomond Park on Sunday afternoon and Munster, at short notice, plan to fill 16,000 seats of the 25,600 capacity of their famous Limerick ground.

The national basketball finals are also taking place this weekend, along with a large number of GAA club and intercounty fixtures.

Before Christmas, the Government re-introduced restrictions on the amount of spectators that could attend games following the emergence of the Omicron wave of Covid-19.

Capacity was limited to 50% and capped at 5,000 for outdoor events.

Indoor events were subject to an 8pm curfew and a maximum capacity of 1000 spectators or 50% of capacity.

Crowd limits were put in place until January 30, and rugby and racing were among the sports badly effected by the restrictions.

Leopardstown went ahead with it's festive racing festival, but it took place behind closed doors.

The lifting of restrictions also comes ahead of the National Leagues kick-off next week, the Six Nations in early February - the Aviva Stadium hosts the Ireland v Wales clash on February 5 - and the start of the new SSE Airtricity League season later next month.

It is part of a whole programme of change that will be introduced by the government from 6am tomorrow following a meeting of the three coalition leaders today.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that today was “a day to be proud of our nation” as Cabinet are to soon sign off on the plan.

Munster said in a statement: "As a result of this welcome late change in government measures, the number of spectators attending the venue on Sunday will now be increased from 5,000 to 16,000.

"The capacity will be capped at this figure due to the short turnaround and limited operations in place for Sunday’s game. We appreciate the wider understanding on this front.

"As always, the priority is to facilitate season ticket holders and Munster Rugby Supporters Club members and all relevant accounts will be reissued with their respective tickets.

"This is an ongoing process and due to the time constraints, we ask for patience and understanding in this regard while the ticket department reissues tickets to our priority groups starting from 1pm on Saturday. All season ticketholders will receive their tickets throughout the afternoon with further details of this process directly communicated.

"Please note that there will be limited amenities and services available on Sunday."

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