Micheál Martin has said the public’s good behaviour on Covid has “borne fruit.”
And he has now guaranteed that people will be able to go back to mass from next month.
The Taoiseach was in upbeat form on the way into this week’s Cabinet meeting in Dublin Castle this morning.
Mr Martin also said the Government’s “strategy is working” in the battle to get Covid case numbers down sufficiently to allow a greater reopening of society next month.
He stressed that religious services will be near the top of the agenda for reopening next month, alongside some retail, personal services (hairdressers) and more construction.
Mr Martin also acknowledged the massive pain restaurants, pubs and hotels have suffered over the past year - today marks the 400th consecutive day Dublin pubs have been closed - but would not be drawn on an early reopening for them.
The Taoiseach said: “I welcome the fact that the Cabinet is back in Dublin Castle this morning, meeting physically for the first time this year, another further sign of the progress we are making as a country against the Covid-19 virus.
“The strategy is working that we’ve been working on for the past while in terms of getting the case numbers down, getting hospitalisations down and indeed getting ICU numbers down, and that is critical.
“And people’s adherence to the guidance has really borne fruit in relation to the numbers coming down.”
Mr Martin added: “In terms of hospitality, it has suffered more than most, over the longest period of this pandemic.
“But again, we have set out the areas that we will examine for May towards the end of this month, we’ll do that next week.”
