Leo Varadkar has warned that pubs may not be allowed to open on August 10.
Speaking to the Dail during Leader's Questions, the Tanaiste said that the reopening of pubs and nightclubs will depend on the number of cases and "how the virus behaves between now and then".
He added: "We are not saying they will open on the tenth of August. We are saying they will open no sooner than the tenth of August."
This comes after the Health Minister said Ireland could see as many as 160 new coronavirus cases a day in just three weeks.
Fianna Fail's Stephen Donnelly said we have not yet experienced a second wave, but that measures taken by the Taoiseach on Wednesday were an effort to avoid another spike in cases.
Micheal Martin confirmed on Wednesday that pubs would not be allowed to reopen until at least August 10, while face masks will become mandatory in shops and retail outlets.
Mr Donnelly cited advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team that said Ireland's reproduction number has shot up over the last few weeks.
He told Morning Ireland on RTE Radio One: "This R number, which we're all very focused on, has gone above one. They [NPHET] believe it's somewhere between 1.2 and 1.8.
"If it's 1.8, they believe within about three weeks we could be up to 150 to 160 cases per day, which is obviously a completely different place we don't want to be in.
"There have been some big clusters. There's a key measure they look at, which is the 14-day cumulative cases, so the total number in the last two weeks per 100,000 of population. That's gone up from 2.5 cases, to 3.9, so a big jump.
"They've also cited the five-day average, that's gone up from an average of 9 new cases a day, to 22 new cases a day, just in the last three weeks."
Mr Donnelly also revealed that plans for different Covid-19 restrictions in different parts of the country are being examined.
He added: "What we do have is the prevalence of cases county-by-county.
"There is some thinking going on around the long-term strategy, because unfortunately we're going to be living with this awful disease probably for quite some time.
"Certainly the options of regional variants are being looked at. As of right now the advice from NPHET is that it applies across the country."
