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People who are fully vaccinated may now meet up indoors, provided it is two weeks or more since they have been given their second dose of the vaccine, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday evening.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar explained how what he described as the “rule of twos” applied to indoor visits.
He said: “It’s two fully vaccinated people or two fully vaccinated households, who’ve had two vaccines and it’s two weeks after they’ve had the second vaccine.”
Mr Martin earlier insisted in an address to that nation that Ireland is “on the final stretch of this terrible journey” as he announced phased changes to Covid-19 restrictions.
The Cabinet has agreed that from April 12th people will be allowed to travel within their county, or within a 20km radius of their home if that crosses a county boundary.
Mr Martin said the country had lived under very strict restrictions since Christmas and things continued to prove difficult.
“Less than two weeks from now all of our children will be back at school. In four weeks many of our outdoor sporting facilities will be open again.
“We are on the final stretch of this terrible journey. This summer our businesses and our public services will safely reopen. We will finally be meeting and enjoying the company of friends and family once again.
“We will be able to travel within and enjoy our beautiful country again. Jobs and livelihoods will be restored. And most importantly the worst of this awful pandemic will be behind us.”
He said the disease now is a “very different beast” to that faced in the first lockdown, as the UK variant is different and “significantly more dangerous”.
“If it is given any space at all it spreads very quickly and the consequences are terrible,” he said.
However, from April 12th he confirmed that people from two households can meet outside for social purposes and there will be a phased return of construction, involving around 14,000 workers.
From April 19th, senior inter-county GAA training will return as well as that for some high-performing athletes.
From the 26th, outdoor training for the under-18s can resume, and golf and tennis, and zoos will reopen. From the 26th, 25 people can attend funerals and two vaccinated people may meet inside.
Mr Martin said disruption to vaccines have held Ireland back, although supply was set to increase in April, May and June.
“As I speak to you now more than 800,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered,” he said, including to those aged over 80, frontline medical workers and the most vulnerable.
“The programme will expand now and by mid-April all over 70s will had their first dose.”
Close to five million doses will be administered by the beginning of July and this will continue to rise, leading to even greater phased reopening, he insisted.
Ireland will enjoy “much greater freedom” toward the end of the summer, he said, although he acknowledged the country is facing another Easter that cannot be appropriately marked.
Socialising and travelling within Ireland was on the horizon, he said. “Steadily and safely let’s get through this final phase together,” he said, ending a nine minute address.
Ministers concluded their Cabinet meeting shortly after 4pm and agreed that from April 12th, the 5km travel restriction will be relaxed.
From April 12th two fully vaccinated people will be permitted to meet indoors. Outdoor meetings of two households will be allowed and remaining secondary school classes will return.
Furthermore, nearly 15,000 home building workers will return to work as part of staggered return of construction industry
From April 19th, GAA senior county training will be allowed. From April 26th, golf and tennis will resume and zoos and places of heritage will open. The Government will consider the reopening of museums and galleries in plans for after May 4th
Outdoor non-contact training and activities for under 18s is also expected to resume at the end of April. There will be an increase in attendance at funerals from 10 to 25 people. There will be a review at the end of April in relation to parishioners attending church, Cabinet has agreed.
Return of personal services such as hairdressers is in the longer-term plan from May, as well as the phased reopening of retail and the rest of the construction industry
An overhaul of the vaccination campaign was also considered by Cabinet. Under this proposal once those over 70 are inoculated, as well as those with underlying health conditions and vulnerable groups, vaccinations will be given on the basis of age only rather than age and profession.
The changes will not kick in until people with underlying conditions and those under the age of 65 in long term residential facilities are vaccinated.
It follows an evidence review by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) which found that no occupational group emerged as being at higher risk, independent of age and other co-morbitities.
Government sources hope that a simpler, age-based approach, which will proceed in 10-year cohorts, is more simple and will reduce the administrative burden involved. The move follows similar developments in the UK.
Grim briefing
The sub-committee of senior Ministers decided last night to delay the easing of the restriction on foot of what was described as a “grim” briefing from the National Public Health Emergency Committee (Nphet) on the current situation.
The return of click-and-collect services in retail will not now happen until May, the Cabinet is expected to decide today. Some Ministers have pressed for an earlier return especially for small clothing and footwear retailers. Sources said there was a concern that it would get people moving more than they need to and also a nervousness about departing too much from Nphet advice. For those reasons the decision has been deferred until May.
Senior Ministers in the group, chaired by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, agreed the change to travel restrictions should take place on April 12th rather than April 5th, when the current Level 5 restrictions were set to end.
A Government source said this rationale behind the delayed easing was to “keep [case] numbers down over Easter school holidays”.
Construction
Outdoor non-contact training and activities for under 18s are also expected to resume from April 26th. Heritage sites, zoos and some other attractions are expected to open from April 26th under plans to be considered by the Government on Tuesday.
The number of travellers facing mandatory hotel quarantine looks set to rise substantially after it was recommended that a further 43 countries should be added to the high-risk country list.
The United States and EU countries including France, Germany and Italy are on the list of additional countries that the Travel Expert Advisory Group has recommended should be added to the list of the mandatory hotel quarantine for travellers arriving into the State.
However a spokesman for Simon Coveney said : “Any addition to the list of category 2 countries requires consultation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs by the Minister for Health. That has not happened to date.”
The Cabinet coronavirus committee met for more than four hours last night and heard while Covid-19 cases are stable at the current level of restrictions, altering public health measures could change this.
A Government source said there was a view emerging that there is nowhere near enough people vaccinated in Ireland to take risks.
Ministers were told that if the State lost control of the disease now there could be a substantial wave of infections until the middle of the summer, whereas a cautious approach for the next four to eight weeks could cut the risk by between 50 and 70 per cent.

Social Democrats joint leader Roisin Shortall said “we would very much endorse an approach of caution” on the easing of the lockdown.
Speaking ahead of the Government’s announcement about what will happen after April 5th she said “there’s a strong case to be made for easing up restrictions in relation to meeting outdoors because that will likely reduce the level of meeting indoors and that should be the aim.
But Ms Shortall stressed the need for “clear messaging” and for the Government to “stop speculation”. She said there should be a clear plan set out as to how the Government plans to proceed over the next three months. And she hit out at the Government’s failure to brief opposition parties, when there should be a “national effort”.
The general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), Antoinette Cunningham, warned, however, that any easing of the 5km travel restriction would make policing the pandemic even more challenging.