The Chief Medical Officer says the UK variant of Covid-19 accounts for almost three quarters of cases of infection here.
Dr Tony Holohon says it's more transmissible and it'll make it harder to get down to low levels of the virus.
827 new cases have been confirmed, with 55 further deaths.
There are 56 new infections in Galway, 17 in Mayo, 7 each in Sligo and Roscommon and 5 in Leitrim.
DCU Professor of Health Systems, Anthony Staines, says more variants of the virus are on the way:
