Simon Coveney has shared a promising Christmas message as the rate of coronavirus cases continues to plummet in Ireland.
This country has one of the lowest rates of Covid-19 in Europe according to new figures.
Ireland is currently in Level Five of the Government's Living with Covid roadmap, but there are hopes restrictions could be loosened when they are up for review on December 1.
And now Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has issued an upbeat message, encouraging the Irish public to "keep at it" as the promise of a "better Christmas" looms.
He wrote on Twitter: "We are getting there!..... let’s keep at it and look forward to a better Christmas!"
Mr Coveney was sharing a map that demonstrated Ireland's success in keeping the virus at bay, with just 59 cases confirmed per 100,000 population over the last seven days.
This compares to 250 in England, 356 in Portugal, 618 in Switzerland and 509 in France.
It comes after it emerged that a total of ten counties are now reporting a 14-day confirmed incidence of under 130.
Just seven days ago, only one county, Leitrim, was under 100. And only one other region, Wicklow, was under 130.
However a big change has seen rates plummet across the country, and the ten counties with an incidence under 100 are now: Carlow, Waterford, Monaghan, Tipperary, Kildare, Galway, Offaly, Wicklow, Wexford and Leitrim.
Here is the latest breakdown of 14-day incidence rates in each county in Ireland:
Donegal - 284.6
Limerick - 209.3
Meath - 203.0
Roscommon - 173.5
Westmeath - 171.2
Dublin - 162.6
Cork - 159.9
Louth - 155.2
Sligo - 152.6
Laois - 152.3
Longford - 149.2
Mayo - 147.9
Kerry - 141.5
Cavan - 140.5
Clare - 132.1
Kilkenny - 131.0
Carlow - 130.0
Waterford - 130.0
Monaghan - 125.4
Tipperary - 124.1
Kildare - 116.0
Galway - 108.9
Offaly - 106.5
Wicklow - 77.2
Wexford - 68.1
Leitrim - 37.4
