A major blow has been dealt for non-essential retail, including Penneys, in the latest update on lifting restrictions from Tanaiste Leo Varadkar.
While he said that he's hopeful restrictions will begin to lift on April 5, he warned that it is likely to only apply to outdoor meeting, the 5km limit and construction.
Non-essential retail isn't a priority for easing restrictions just yet, although he did say click and collect services may return for shops not currently offering the service.
He called the plans for easing restrictions as "modest" in April and May and said that the vaccine supply issues should not effect the plans for lifting lockdown.
During an interview with RTE News At One, Varadkar also spoke about vaccine targets being missed, supply issues and stated that the government are "not in control of production and delivery" of the vaccines.
"The vaccine programme is going as fast as it possibly can. As soon as the vaccine arrives, it's usually in people's arms within a week - sometimes three days," he said.
When asked about the easing of lockdown restrictions, Varadkar provided some hope for certain sectors.
He said: "What we made very clear in the plan is that we would review the situation in the run-up to April 5. We said that the only kind of restrictions that we could see being eased in April would be construction, the 5km rule and allow some more activities outdoors.
"That remains the case. Even if the number of vaccines is slightly behind schedule, we're making very good progress in terms of suppressing the virus."
Mr Varadkar also added that any easing of restrictions next month would not include an increase in the number of people allowed to attend funerals and weddings.
Speaking to Galway Bay FM he said: "We would love to [increase numbers] and it is not the church, but there is very strong evidence that everything else that happens around weddings and funerals is a problem.
"It’s just the nature of these events."
He warned that this may not be the last lockdown as there is a chance COVID could return next winter, along with other respiratory illnesses as he confirmed there had been no cases of flu recorded this year.
“That has never happened in my lifetime or recollection but the flu hasn’t gone away," he said.
"One of the concerns is that these respiratory illnesses return with a vengeance next winter and we have less immunity”.
