It is unlikely that there will be any significant easing of Covid-19 restrictions in early March, the Taoiseach has said.
The Irish Times reports that Micheál Martin said he "does not see a major reopening of the economy on March 5th” – the date currently earmarked for Level 5 restrictions to remain in place until.
The Government will take a "conservative and cautious" approach over the loosening of lockdown restrictions, he said.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s This week programme, Mr Martin said the priority remained opening primary schools on a phased basis, with schools for children with special educational needs to open first.
Mr Martin added that “there may be news this week” regarding options for the Leaving Certificate, but the examination advisory committee wanted to ensure they had “all the Is... dotted and Ts crossed” before an announcement was made.
Hospitality and construction
Mr Martin said the construction sector would reopen once Covid-19 cases drop below 1,000 each day.
The reopening of the hospitality sector would not take place until Covid-19 vaccinations had been ramped up, he said.
“I’m not looking at the whole of hospitality – there can be different approaches,” he added.
Mr Martin said he believed that “a critical mass” of the population would be vaccinated by late summer.
“I anticipate that as we move into quarter two and quarter three, the issue will become vaccine administration as opposed to a supply issue,” he added.
Vaccine timeline
The Taoiseach said he was being straight with people but had to be “careful about giving precision decisions” around vaccine dates because “it does depend on supply”.
“I do believe the rollout so far has been in line with commitments made,” Mr Martin said.
His comments come as on Saturday, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste offered differing opinions as to a timeline of Covid-19 vaccinations in Ireland.
While Leo Varadkar said the target of vaccinating every adult in the country by September could still be met, Mr Martin separately stated that meeting the target seemed unlikely given supply issues — adding that it may be the end of the year before all Irish citizens are vaccinated.
Over 99 per cent of people offered the Covid-19 vaccine in the first allocation groups have chosen to receive the first dose, according the HSE.
It comes as Covid-19 case numbers in the Republic are set to rise by up to 10 per cent in the coming week, as the testing of close contacts resumes.
