The Taoiseach says people should expect tight Covid 19 restrictions to continue until at least early April.
Micheál Martin says some classrooms and construction will reopen over the next few weeks.
But he’s warning case numbers are still too high for the majority of restrictions to ease.
The current Covid measures were due to end on the 5th of March.
But the Taoiseach says people can assume most of them will continue until Easter.
He said it's the 'right thing to do' to proceed with caution while vaccines are rolled out over the coming months, and the country will be in a better position with each passing month.
Clarity
The Taoiseach said there'll be 'greater clarity' by the end of the month on what an easing of restrictions will look like.
He also said he's hopeful people will be able to go on holidays within Ireland this summer.
Micheál Martin has confirmed people arriving from a 'substantial' number of countries - such as Austria, UAE and several in sub-Saharan Africa - are expected to be added to the mandatory quarantine list by the end of today.
"I think in the first instance we do need to get the numbers down to very low levels - particularly the number of people in hospitals and intensive care.
"We don’t ever want to go back to the levels we saw during the third wave.
"Certainly until Easter, we’re looking at a high level of restrictions."
Asked if that means level five until Easter, he said: "People can assume that… we’ll certainly take stock of stock over the next two weeks of in terms of how the virus is evolving."
