Leo Varadkar has said "our plan is working and we should stick to it".
The Taoiseach was speaking in the Dáil this afternoon where he gave an upbeat and “optimistic, but cautious” update on the progress of the roadmap out of lockdown.
He said that “the last couple of days have been encouraging” as new coronavirus case numbers continue to fall consistently.
There were five new deaths and nineteen new cases reported by the Department of Health last night.
And Mr Varadkar confirmed that with the numbers going in the right direction the country is on track to come out of lockdown a month early in July instead of August.
He told the Dáil today: “We are still in the early stages, so it’s too early to evaluate how Phase 2+ is going, but the early indications are favourable.
“As a country we’re optimistic, but cautious, we’re hopeful, while avoiding unnecessary risk.
“In the fine balancing act that our lives have become, we are getting things right more often than not.
“Our plan is working and we should stick to it.”
He added: “It all depends of course on us keeping the virus under control and there’s always a risk that it might make a comeback, but the last couple of days have been quite encouraging, notwithstanding the daily tragedy of new notified deaths from the Department of Health."
