Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that he cannot give an indication about the lifting of inter-county restrictions in June. Mr Varadkar said that the virus "keeps surprising us" and six weeks is a long time in a pandemic.
Speaking outside Leinster House, he warned that Covid-19 cases were levelling off or even rising slightly and there were also issues around vaccine supply.
For those reasons he said he believes that any lifting of restrictions in May would be along expected lines and would not go further than that.
This includes the phased reopening of non-essential retail, the opening of hairdressers, and the full return of construction.