Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said there is no reason to believe Ireland will be facing a fourth lockdown despite the increasing fears of the impact of the Delta wave.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin yesterday announced that Covid’s fourth wave will hit Ireland before the end of the month.
However, Mr Varadkar has insisted that another lockdown won't be on the cards.
He believes Ireland would "weather through" a jump in cases by increasing the rate of vaccinations, keeping the current restrictions in place, and introducing vaccine passes for indoor dining, the Irish Independent reports.
The race between the variant and vaccines is now at a crucial stage.
Speaking in Limerick on Friday, Mr Martin said: "The challenge for us is to build up that wall against Covid as quickly as we can."
He added: "Delta is real, there will be a Delta wave,” as he indicated it is almost upon us, adding: "towards the latter part of July, and maybe sooner, we will begin to see numbers increase."
Ireland got a major vaccine boost yesterday as it was revealed we are set to buy one million Pfizer and Moderna jabs from the Romanian government.
It came hours after Stephen Donnelly announced hundreds of thousands of young people could be protected two months earlier than expected.
