"The only issue facing us now is going forward."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Government is "not contemplating going backwards" on Covid-19 restrictions.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Martin said that reintroducing restrictions was not on the table, however, a decision on the further easing of restrictions won't be made until next week.
"We do not want to go back, and we are not contemplating going backwards," he said.
"The only issue facing us now is going forward and that is a decision we will make on the advice we receive from NPHET (National Public Health Emergency Team)."
The group will meet on Monday to decide on whether or not to ease more restrictions on Friday with clubs and other high-risk activities set to resume if things go according to plan.
Martin said the country was in a "completely different situation" now due to 90% of the population being vaccinated, adding that the only way the Government would go backwards was if there were "twists and turns" to the
vaccine.
Earlier this week, Leo Varadkar said there would be "no question" about the proposed Friday, 22 October reopening if everyone in the country was vaccinated.
Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, Varadkar said that no decisions had been made yet and that Cabinet would be meeting to discuss options on Monday or Tuesday after data from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is made available.
"It is a personal choice, but the truth is that, if everyone in Ireland was fully vaccinated, we would probably have approximately 25 people in ICU and 200 in hospital overall today, and there would be no question about easing restrictions on 22 October," he said.
"It is a personal choice, but it has an impact on other people."
