Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said the Government is on track to ease restrictions on 4 May and that he is confident over 80% of people will have been offered a vaccine by June.

Passengers arriving into the Republic of Ireland from 16 additional countries are now subject to mandatory hotel quarantine with limited exemptions.

The online portal for people aged between 65 and 69 to register for their Covid-19 vaccine will open for bookings from 10am.

Concern about the effects on children of increased drinking at home during the pandemic have been expressed in the latest official alcohol study.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn has urged the country's 16 federal states to impose tougher restrictions quickly to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus and not to wait until a national law on measures is passed.

Students from across the country are having their say on important issues and unveiling their vision for change this week as part of the Young Social Innovators Speak Out Virtual Tour.

For over a year volunteers and staff that operate helplines for charitable organisations have been hearing from people who are struggling during the pandemic.

The Government has formally authorised the Low Pay Commission to investigate how Ireland can move towards a living wage, and must report in the second half of this year.

Germany's highest court said that a policy to freeze rents in Berlin for five years to combat soaring housing costs was unlawful in a ruling published today.

The Northern Ireland Executive is to meet today to agree an indicative timeline for the further easing of Covid-19 restrictions.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the target of vaccinating 80% of the adult population against Covid-19 by the end of June remains on track.

The Department of Health has reported 12 further Covid-19-related deaths and 431 new cases of the disease.

There was one winner of tonight's Lotto jackpot, worth €12,740,043, the biggest jackpot win in almost four years.

The former police officer who shot dead a black 20-year-old man in a Minneapolis suburb after appearing to mistake her gun for her Taser was arrested yesterday and will face manslaughter charges.

US President Joe Biden has declared that he plans to end the longest American war and that it is "time for American troops to come home" from Afghanistan.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has upheld a complaint about a remark made on a radio show that claimed that the novelist JK Rowling was transphobic.

Bernard Madoff, who was convicted in 2009 for running a massive Ponzi scheme, has died aged 82 in federal prison where he was serving a 150-year sentence, the US Bureau of Prisons said.

The EU is to receive 50 million more doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the next three months, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.

Up to 131 roles could be lost at Paypal's operations in Dublin and Dundalk, staff have been told.

Saturday's Women's Six Nations game between Ireland and France in Donnybrook will go ahead, the IRFU has said.