When asked if it was fair to ask young people to work in hospitality but not use it, he said: "Science isn't always fair but this is the reality that now faces us."

Leo Varadkar has said that the exclusion of unvaccinated people from the Government's plan to reopen indoor dining is "unfair". Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland on Wednesday, he said: “It is unfair. There will be anomalies and there are details we'll have to work out." When asked if it was fair to ask younger cohorts who have yet to receive a Covid-19 vaccine to work in hospitality but not use it, he said: "I don't think anything's fair about this pandemic and science isn't always fair, but, this is the reality that now faces us. "Is it fair to people who work in those industries including very many young people, to say to them that someone who works in retail for example can go to work and serve customers who aren't vaccinated and you can't go to work in a restaurant or a hotel where people are fully vaccinated?" He also said that the Government will not commission an independent evaluation of the National Public Health Emergency Team's (NPHET) advice. "We're not going to commission an independent evaluation, but what will happen is that all of the data from the modelling will be published," he added. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed that the reopening of indoor dining could come sooner for people who are vaccinated as a new system to prove people have received the jab is currently being drawn up. When asked if there was a possibility that other indoor activities that recently reopened such as cinemas, hair salons, and non-essential retail would also be using the system, Martin didn't rule out the option, adding that they will "work with the sectors". "We will examine now the advice as we've received in respect of that from the National Public Health Emergency Team," he said.