The Tánaiste has told his party colleagues that only a limited amount of restrictions are likely to be eased before May. Leo Varadkar wrote today to the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party to say that if cases of Covid-19 continue to fall and if there is reduced pressure on hospitals, then some changes will be considered from 5 April.
They include: a relaxation of the 5km rule, a reopening of construction, the return of click and collect at non-essential retail outlets, and more outdoor activity.
However, he added that no further consideration would happen until the end of April or early May. Mr Varadkar said the number of vaccines administered each week will rise to between 200,000 to 300,000 in April.