Hairdressers remain hopeful of being given approval to reopen their salons early despite the Government’s overall roadmap for the resumption of commercial activity being brought forward by nearly a month.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that Ireland is on track to move into Phase Two of the plan to reopen the country.

“Blatant discrimination against women” is how a Labour senator described the temporary wage subsidy scheme which "locks out" those who want to return to work but were on unpaid maternity leave in late February.

A large number of lower-paid workers and those paid close to the minimum wage would get less under the wage-support scheme than they would under the Covid-19 pandemic payments, according to a report by the Economic and Social Research Institute.