Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the prospect of air travel from the Republic of Ireland is months rather than weeks away.
Everyone who arrives in the State to stay, whether Irish or from abroad, is being asked to self-isolate for 14 days to ensure that anyone with Covid-19 does not infect others.
It comes amid calls for tougher laws to require people arriving into the country to tell authorities where they will be self-isolating.
Mr Varadkar said: “The very strong advice from Government is that anyone entering our country, whether they are an Irish citizen or not, needs to quarantine and self-isolate for 14 days with the exception of certain key workers. We are going to strengthen that over the next few weeks.”
He was speaking at a visit to a contact tracing centre in Dublin on Wednesday.
“Of course we all look forward to air travel in the future,” he added. “We’re an island nation and a globalised economy. We need to return to business and leisure travel at some point but that really is premature at this stage.
“The European Union and the aviation authorities are thinking about that and how we can return to safe air travel but that is months rather than weeks away.”
Mr Varadkar said he is more confident that the country can begin to reopen from next week.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) will make a recommendation to Government on Friday.
Outdoor construction work, DIY shops and small outside gatherings will be allowed from Monday May 18 if the Government gets the go-ahead from the NPHET.
“It is fair to say that everything is going in the right direction but a decision has yet to be made about whether we will get to ease restrictions on Monday,” said Mr Varadkar.
“As we ease restrictions, personal responsibility and personal discipline is going to be all the more important because we will be meeting each other more and more people will be going to work.”
He said the Irish government will issue guidance in the next few days about making and wearing face coverings to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Transport Shane Ross said his department will provide funding to public transport companies to ensure their services can continue.
Mr Ross, who lost his seat in the general election, returned to the Dáil for the first time after he was cocooning at home.
He told the Dáil: "The public transport system is a critical part of the plan for reopening of the economy.
"It is inconceivable that public transport should not function properly in the present crisis.
"Therefore, I can confirm to the house that the Government will provide the necessary additional funding to continue those services, despite the drop in fare income.
"My department is working closely with the NTA (National Transport Authority) and DPER (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform of Ireland) to assess and quantify this additional funding requirement."
He also said that it is "very likely" commuters will be asked to wear face masks when using public transport.
The Republic's chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said on Tuesday that there is no plan to make the wearing of face masks compulsory.
Senior Government official Liz Canavan said work is ongoing at Government level on the use of face coverings in public.
Speaking at the Covid-19 briefing, she said: “We are aware of questions around the potential use of face masks or coverings as we move to lift restrictions.
“Work is ongoing around guidance and practical communication about the face coverings and how they can be made at home. A key message will be how to safely use face coverings because the evidence is clear. If face masks are not used properly then they can have the effect of increasing the risk of transmission.
“We will have more information for the public about face coverings in the coming days.”
Ahead of some of the restrictions possibly being lifted next week, Ms Canavan warned the public to remain vigilant.
Ms Canavan said the Government does not want to have to reintroduce measures in future, as some other countries have had to do due to a spike in coronavirus infections.
She said: “Any lifting of restrictions carries a risk of going backwards and losing the hard-won progress of recent months. This week, we have seen some countries reinstate some restrictions. We do not want to have to do that. We are approaching our reopening in a gradual way. Therefore, it is important that we are disciplined in sticking to the guidelines that apply.
“It is also important to remember that we have not started to ease restrictions yet. Every day counts in terms of assessing where we are and how we can move on.”
Meanwhile, a public health expert has said a lack of community testing for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland is putting the island of Ireland at risk.
Dr Gabriel Scally, president of epidemiology and public health at the Royal Society of Medicine in London, said plans to control the virus remain different between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
He told Newstalk FM: “Certainly in the North, and the rest of the UK, they’re not doing testing in the community. Unless you can test in the community, how are you going to know if the infection is coming back unless you wait until people are carried in sick into hospitals?”
The coronavirus death toll in Ireland rose to 1,488 on Tuesday after a further 24 deaths were announced.
Another 107 positive cases were confirmed, taking the total since the outbreak began to 23,242.
