Stephen Donnelly has revealed details of a new colour-coded plan out of lockdown.
The Minister for Health also conceded that the coronavirus could be with us for "nine months to two years".
And because of this, he said that it was time for a new way to bring the country through the Covid crisis over the coming months.
The new colour-coded plan will involve us moving through phases based on traffic light colours, red, orange and yellow, along with blue.
Green is not being used because of concerns people would become too complacent if they got the "green light".
It has been likened to the Met Eireann weather warning system that many people are already used to.
Mr Donnelly said most of the country is currently at yellow.
He added: “The colour-coded warning system will be able to say where we are at on any particular day.”
Mr Donnelly was speaking to RTE's Morning Ireland when he said: “I am not concerned about the response and the resilience of the Irish people.
“The response so far has been spectacular.”
The new plan from Mr Donnelly indicates an acceptance from the Minister that the virus isn't going away anytime soon and that a different approach to the phased roadmap out of lockdown was needed.
He added: “We could be looking at this for nine months, we could be looking at this for two years, we don’t know.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin hinted at the new way yesterday when he told reporters that a change in tactics is one the way.
He said: “Like other countries there’s been an increase in numbers so we’ve got to look through and plan ahead of potential scenarios.”
