The head of Ryanair says he's "remarkably optimistic" about the travel landscape and the return of travel this summer.
CEO of the airline Michael O'Leary has predicted Irish people will be able to travel to places such as Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy this year.
His optimistic view stems from the rollout of covid-19 vaccines across Europe:
"The vaccines are coming, the UK will have vaccinated half their population by the end of March.
"Europe and Ireland are running a bit behind that, but we would expect them to have most of the over-50s vaccinated by the end of June.
"Then I think you'll see a return to normal travel patterns".
However, Mr O'Leary believes the return of long haul travel will take longer.
Meanwhile, people caught travelling abroad for non-essential reasons during restrictions may face a fine of up to 500 euro.
