Following the recent publication of the revised plan for leaving lockdown and the Tànaiste's statement that life in Ireland should be"relatively normal" in August, a sense of cautious optimism is prevalent.
However, the continued progress to ease Level 5 restrictions depends on vaccines, variants, virus case numbers and the state of Ireland's hospitals.
While last week's updated plan has provided some clarity for certain industries and sectors, the topic of indoor dining and drinking is still uncertain.
Here's what has been said about that issue...
What's officially being planned?
From June 7, subject to the public health situation at the time, outdoor services can resume with groups limited to six people.
A number of higher-risk activities will be considered at the end of June for later in the year, this includes indoor hospitality (restaurants, bars, nightclubs, casinos).
However, there's a topic of contention because some indoor services can recommence on June 2. From that date, accommodation services including hotels, B&Bs, self-catering and hostels can reopen.
These hospitality locations can provide services including leisure facilities, indoor restaurant and bar services. However, they must be restricted to overnight guests and residents only.
This policy of examining the possibility of reopening indoor services is in keeping with the government's policy which has focused on an "outdoor focused" summer.
What the Taoiseach and Tànaiste have said about indoor pints?
During an interview with Newstalk, the Taoiseach said it might be possible to have an indoor pint by late July, depending on the success of Ireland's vaccine programme and the prevalent case numbers.
When asked if fans could have an indoor pint and then go to the All Ireland final (in August), he said: "It depends. The indoor pint, certainly not in May or June," he said.
"It may be possible towards the end of July, and I think it's within that timeframe. It's a possibility.
"I don't want to be nailing my colours to the mast on that, but, by then we will have very significant numbers of people vaccinated."
Speaking on Wednesday, Tànaiste Leo Varadkar said that he hopes the vast majority of restrictions would be lifted by the end of summer.
The Fine Gael leader offered hope that people will be able to dine and drink indoors once again as restrictions are eased.
Mr Varadkar said: "I will still be hopeful and on the confident side of hopeful that we'll have indoor dining in pubs and restaurants in July It's just that July is quite far away, and we can't really make a call until the end of June.
“But you know cases are stable, hospitalisations and ICUs are falling. And every day tens of thousands of more people are vaccinated so you know, if I was in the hospitality business I'd be planning for outdoors in June and indoors in July, subject to all the usual caveats.”
What the pubs have made about the lack of a date for indoor pints?
Prior to last week's updated plan being released, the Licensed Vintners Association of Ireland (LVA) called for outdoor reopening to be "the first step in reopening the hospitality sector with the LVA also pressing for indoor service to resume for all pubs and restaurants in June, in line with the expected reopening of hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs."
Speaking about pubs reopening and indoor service, Donall O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the LVA, said: " “It is widely acknowledged that outdoor activities are relatively safe and given the expected progress of the vaccine rollout we believe the end of May would represent a reasonable timeframe to permit this activity.
"That should be followed by indoor service resuming in June as more of the population is vaccinated and is in line with the reopening of hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs. The risk profile for indoor service is the same in all hospitality settings and we will not accept any move to prioritise the reopening of certain sections of hospitality over others.
