LEO VARADKAR says he thinks that we'll be able to go on holiday this summer, telling RTÉ that he's already booked one for himself.
The Tanaiste said that if Ireland's vaccination programme is rolled as planned, they'll be little need to keep rigorous travel restrictions in place.
Despite this, he revealed that rather than jetting off to somewhere in Europe, he's opted for stay-cation instead.
"I have booked my home holiday for August, [in] Sligo," Varadkar told RTÉ 2FM.
"[I] had hope to go to a beach somewhere, not going to happen, well it will be a beach, but in Sligo, but [I] had hoped to get somewhere sunny and warm.
"I think because of the vaccine and because of the change in the weather, and because of what everyone is doing to get the virus down, you know I think there is a very good chance that this summer we will be able to have home holidays a bit like we did last summer, you know?
"I think we will be able to have beers outdoors with friends this summer and get around the country but you just never know because this virus has torn up our plans so many times."
The Fine Gael leader also said he still thinks 80% of the country could be vaccinated by September, despite recent supply issues.
"Because of the developments in the last couple of days, we will have to change the order of who gets which vaccine when, but we will still have the same number of vaccines in total," the Tanaiste said.
"So that target of getting 70-80% of adults vaccinated by September that is still do-able. We still think that will be achieved."
