Dr Tony Holohan and Leo Varadkar have both stated that they would like to see the reopening of Irish society accelerated.
Ireland is currently in phase 1 of the roadmap to reopening society, with phase 2 scheduled to begin on Monday, June 8. Confirmation on Ireland's entry into the next phase is due to arrive on Friday of next week and Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan has told the
Irish Mirror that he is one of those who would like to see restrictions lifted at a faster pace than currently scheduled.
He said: "People would like to see things happening as quickly as possible and I would be one of them. It sounds like an expression of what we would all like to see." He added that "if the evidence or experience of other countries changes our assessment as to when something might be recommended at a different point, then we would make that advice available."
Meanwhile, An Taoiseach
Leo Varadkar has echoed the sentiments of Dr Holohan, telling FM 104's
Strawberry Alarm Clock: "I certainly want to accelerate it. It's really the numbers next week that tell us whether we're still going in the right direction." However, Varadkar also added a note of caution by saying: "The worst thing that could happen is if we said 'go ahead, open your restaurants, open your pubs' - and in three weeks' time we had to reintroduce the lockdown."
Under the current roadmap, cafes and restaurants will be allowed to open with social distancing in phase 3 which begins on June 29. Pubs, bars and nightclubs are scheduled to follow suit during phase 5, which begins on August 10.
