Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said all shops will reopen and people will be allowed visitors in their homes as he accelerated plans to move the country out of lockdown.
Mr Varadkar told the country that "all darkness must pass" as the Irish government approved plans to move to phase two of its roadmap to reopen the economy.
From next week, people will be allowed to travel anywhere within their own county on non-essential journeys, and groups of up to six people can meet indoors or outdoors.
Under the fast-tracked plans, Ireland's five-phase lockdown easing is now reduced to four phases.
Some of the key features of phase two, starting on Monday, include:
- The travel limit, initially supposed to be 20km, extended to anywhere within a person's county (or within 20km)
- All retailers allowed to open, subject to physical distancing measures and staggered opening hours
- Groups of up to six people allowed to meet together, indoors or outdoors as long as they keep at least two metres apart
- Groups of up to 15 will be able to meet for outdoor sporting activities
- "Cocooners" (the over-70s or medically vulnerable) can welcome a small number of visitors into their home, with distancing
- Shops will also have dedicated hours for "cocooners" to visit
- Children's playgrounds and summer camps permitted
Shopping centres will be allowed to open a week later, on 15 June, as long as shoppers are not allowed to congregate in common areas like benches, food courts and fountains.
Phase three will begin on 29 June, when hotels, restaurants and B&Bs will be able to reopen.
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Pubs that have restaurant licenses will be allowed to open, but with table service only. Also from that date, galleries and museums can reopen.
Ireland is confident it can relax its tight restrictions - and its citizens will be relieved
The Irish people have been living under one of the most restrictive lockdowns in Europe.
According to experts at Oxford University, which measured the response of 160 countries, Ireland's restrictions have been among the tightest in Europe, significantly tougher than the UK's.
So the government's decision today to dramatically fast-track its recovery roadmap will be greeted with relief by many people here, who can look forward to significant new freedoms from Monday.
So what led Leo Varadkar to make this move?
Months of tough restrictions have seen the R (reproductive rate) reduced to somewhere between 0.4 and 0.7 by the restrictions, and more importantly, the National Public Health Emergency Team has said the first three week period of easing of restrictions has not seen that R number increase.
This gave the public health experts, and subsequently the government, the confidence not only to push ahead with phase two, but to speed up the rest of the plan.
As always, the relaxing of these restrictions comes with ominous caveats from the instinctively cautious scientists.
Closer attention than ever will be paid to the reams of public health data in the coming weeks, and the government will reserve its right to reintroduce certain restrictions if there's even a hint of the dreaded second wave of infections, as its citizens travel and socialise on a scale not seen since mid-March.
But it's also important to remember that even from Monday, the Irish will still live under many restrictions.
Fellow Europeans in countries like France, Germany and even Italy can get their hair cut, send their children to school, enjoy a restaurant meal or a glass of wine in a local bar.
The Irish cannot…for several more weeks at least.