Tanaiste Leo Varadkar shares big lockdown easing update for Ireland as key date confirmed

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said that we are "on track" to continue easing lockdown next month.

The Fine Gael leader confirmed that May 4 remains the target to easing further restrictions as case numbers continue to decline.

Earlier today it emerged that Pfizer will be delivering a further 550,000 vaccine doses here in the second quarter of this year.

And in a video released on Twitter Mr Varadkar said the government is still expecting to meet its goal of vaccinations for the next three months.

He said: "In relation to the vaccine programme, we will receive and administer between three and half and four million vaccines in Quarter Two of this year, that's April, May and June.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar (Julien Behal)

"And for that reason the vaccine programme is on track.

"We'll have to make some amendments and some changes, we've had to do that 25 times now since the programme began, but we're still very much on track to meet our targets, between three and a half and four million vaccines in Quarter Two of this year."

And Mr Varadkar added that we also remain on course for the all important easing of lockdown next month.

He continued: "We are on track as well to ease restrictions on the fourth of May, so lots of things to be positive about, things broadly on track.

"Of course there's going to be twists and turns, that was always going to be the case, but I just wanted to reassure you about those things."

Meanwhile, Micheál Martin has also admitted there will be more “bumps along the way” if we are to make the June jabs deadline of vaccinating four out of five people

But the Taoiseach also predicted that we are still largely on track.

Ministers were left reeling this morning as they headed into a crunch Cabinet meeting after learning up to one million AstraZeneca and Janssen jabs this quarter will be delayed.

This would have had a huge impact on the predicted total of 3.9million vaccines that were due here by July, on which the 80% of adults receiving one dose each by the end of June target is based.

However, the Cabinet was saved a terrible day after a surprise announcement from Pfizer that they will be delivering an extra 50million of their jabs to the EU before the end of June.