The easing of coronavirus restrictions next month will be extremely limited, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said.
The Fine Gael leader was speaking to colleagues at Wednesday evening's parliamentary party meeting.
Mr Varadkar said he expected schools to be reopened in a phased manner throughout March and April, and predicted assessments would be taken every two to three weeks.
The Irish Times reports sources said there would also be a return to creches for pre-school children in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme, under the limited easing of restrictions outlined by the Fine Gael leader.
Mr Varadkar also cast doubt on the reopening of non-essential construction sites in March if Covid-19 case numbers were in the region of 400 per day.
Covid-19 numbers
Covid-19 numbers were falling but not as fast as they had been, and the country was still above the peak of the first wave, he added.
The Tánaiste acknowledged the need for more detailed information for those in line for vaccines and said that it would be put in place.
All those 85 and over would be vaccinated over coming weeks, he said.
The administration of the vaccine is entirely dependent on the supply and expected one million doses each month in April, May and June.
The party leader told the meeting that a two-island strategy would make sense, but would require all five jurisdictions to be in line with each other.
