Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has quelled hopes that hairdressers, barbers and beauty salons will be allowed to reopen at the start of next month, telling the public that they will remain closed until the end of April/start of May at the earliest.
Speaking on
Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar didn't give much hope that there would be widespread reopening next month - commenting that the easing of restrictions would be "quite limited".
Adding that businesses such as non-essential retail and hairdressers will not be allowed to reopen until late April/early May, Varadkar told listeners:
"Reopening of shops, personal services, hospitality… that wouldn’t be happening on April 5th. That would be a later date: You’d be talking realistically the earliest... end of April or early May."
Admitting that he is wary of answering such questions as he doesn't want to be "accused of kite-flying or raising false hopes", the Tánaiste said that the first restrictions government are looking at relaxing pertain to outdoor activities, the reopening of construction sites and the current 5km exercise limit.
Commenting that "we don't want to move too fast and then end up falling backwards", Varadkar said that it will be a "slow reopening".
"We all had the experience of December and January - nobody wants that to happen again. It will be a step-by-step, slow reopening."
Reiterating that there will be no changes to current restrictions prior to April 5th, Varadkar finished by saying that government will be taking four different factors into account when planning for the next few months - those being case numbers, vaccine progress, the risk of variants and the level of hospitalisations.
