Varadkar: we're working to have 'the country almost fully opened by the middle of July'

Plans are being drawn up to almost fully re-open the economy by the middle of July.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told the Dáil the early indications from phase two of the easing of lockdown measures are positive.

He said the plan is still one of trying to suppress the virus, rather than mitigating it, but noted that Ireland can't cut itself off from the world, and will need to open up eventually and risk importing cases.

For now, the Taoiseach has said the evidence is good so far:

"The government is conducting extensive work with the help of NPHET on a revised Phase 3 and Phase 4 of the roadmap so we can have the country almost fully opened by the middle of July."