Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that any easing of COVID-19 restrictions will be "slow and gradual", with measures spaced out.

Any decision made at the start of April will be based on four different criteria: disease prevalence, hospital and critical care occupancy levels, ongoing and steady progress on the vaccination programme and emerging information on variants.

Ireland's restrictions have been in place for longer than anywhere else in the EU, but has the impact of prolonged lockdown measures on mental health and jobs been taken into account?

Edgar Morgenroth, Professor of Economics at DCU Business School, and Michael McNamara, Independent TD and Chair of the COVID-19 Committee, joined us to discuss these issues.