TAOISEACH Micheál Martin has indicated that foreign holidays might be possible this summer.
During his state of the nation address on Thursday evening, Martin officially announced Ireland's roadmap out of lockdown, revealing the key dates when restrictions will be eased and/or lifted over the coming weeks and months.
Personal services such as hairdressers will reopening in a matter of days, hotels will open at the start of June, and pubs and restaurants will follow five days later.
As for international travel, nothing is set in stone, but allowing holidays abroad will be considered by Government towards the end of June, with a view to opening everything up the following month.
Whether this is able to happen or not will highly depend on vaccine rollout and whether Covid-19 case numbers remain low once restrictions begin to be lifted.
"As I look forward into July and beyond, I want to see our aviation, tourism and all hospitality businesses back doing what they do better than anyone else on earth," he said.
"I want to see the safe return of our vital artistic and cultural life. And I want to see our students back on campus for the new academic year, enjoying the sort of further and higher education experience that they deserve."
However, Martin stressed that all this was contingent on the public sticking to public health guidelines and restrictions, and insisted that a "gradual" reopening was the best course of action to ensure this happens.
"To enable all of this, the key factor remains sticking with the strategy - a gradual, responsible reopening," he added.
See More: Micheál Martin, Summer Holidays, Travel
