LEO Varadkar says that Ireland is "on track" to ease a number of restrictions in May and begin a phased reopening of the economy.
The Tánaiste confirmed that non-essential retail and personal services such as salons and hairdressers will be allowed to open next month too.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Varadkar also pledged that four out of five adults in Ireland will have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by June.
"So what we will do in two weeks' time, so the end of April, we will look at the plan for May," he said.
"What we're planning is allowing more outdoor activities, a phase three reopening of retail, and of personal services."
When asked if this would include hairdressers, Varadkar replied: "Yes, I'm not saying the 4th of May, that’s unlikely, but over the course of the month of May there'll be a phased reopening of personal services including hairdressers and barbers.
"What we will also do in April, which is not far away now, is we will look at the plan for June and July."
It comes as Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he is "determined" to look at reopening non-essential retail and personal services in May.
Martin said he is confident in the nation's vaccination rollout and believes there'll be room to look at the reopening of a "number of other areas" in the coming months.
"I am confident that we are on track, I think we have made good progress, we have done what we said we would do in respect of the schools and lifting the 5k, we're determined to look at a number of other areas like retail and personal services at the end of this month to see what we can do in May," he said.
