The Tánaiste also said Ireland could be vaccinating teenagers against Covid-19 by September.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said there is “no reason to believe” that Ireland will go into a fourth lockdown.
The Tánaiste made the comments to the Independent after voicing concerns earlier this week regarding the emerging Delta variant of the virus.
On Tuesday, Varadkar said: “We simply do not know how bad, or for how long, the Delta wave will last. We know it will happen but we don’t know how long it will last, we don’t know how bad it will be.”
Meanwhile, NPHET on Thursday stated that Ireland was at the beginning of a fourth wave of Covid-19.
However, The Tánaiste told the Independent that Ireland would “weather through” this fourth wave by speeding up the vaccination rollout, keeping current restrictions in place and implementing vaccine passes to facilitate indoor dining.
He said: “There is no reason to believe that we will be forced to go into a fourth lockdown because of the variant.
“We can still have an outdoor summer, holiday and look forward to schools and colleges going back safely in September when all adults are vaccinated.
“We may be vaccinating teenagers at that point too.”
On Friday, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly announced that vaccine distribution for 18 to 34-year-olds will begin from Monday, 5 July.
It was also reported that Ireland is set to purchase one million Covid-19 vaccines from Romania.
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