The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has cancelled its planned series of Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) rebuild public information evenings, which had been due to kick off this evening, Thursday, March 12.

The information meetings, of which five had been scheduled in total, have been cancelled following a statement from the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar earlier today.

In his statement, the Taoiseach said that indoor gatherings of 100 people and outdoor gatherings of 500 people should be cancelled due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

The five LPIS information meetings organised by the department had been due to start in Co. Cavan at 8:00pm tonight.

Subsequent meetings had been due to take place in counties: Longford; Meath; Monaghan; and Leitrim over the course of the next two weeks.

No information has been given as of yet regarding whether these meetings will be rescheduled.

In a brief statement, a Department of Agriculture spokesperson said:

The department continues to liaise closely with and follow the advice of the chief medical officer in the Department of Health and the HSE [Health Service Executive] in relation to Covid-19.

So far, there have been 43 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country, according to the HSE.