Dublin Zoo is one of the attractions welcoming back visitors today after certain COVID-19 restrictions were eased from midnight.
Outdoor attractions can like zoos, open pet farms and heritage sites can admit the public from today, while outdoor sports facilities such as pitches, golf courses and tennis courts can also reopen.
Dublin Zoo was closed for 242 days, and people were so keen to visit the attraction that its website crashed when tickets were made available last week.
Newstalk reporter Barry Whyte went to speak to staff ahead of reopening for The Pat Kenny Show.
Dublin Zoo Director Christoph Schwitzer explained the measures they have taken to ensure the public can safely visit in the coming weeks.
"We'll start again on a very reduced capacity, around 20% of our normal operation," he said.
"We hope now as we go along with the vaccination campaign taking good shape now as well that we can bring that up to more over the next couple of months.
"It will be very similar to what people have seen last summer, we'll have a one-way outdoor safari trail, we have online bookings so there won't be any physical interaction with staff, we have 56 hand sanitiser stations around the side.
"It won't feel very crowded at all because of the relatively low visitor numbers, it will be staggered in hourly slots, so it will be a very safe visit."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin visits Dublin Zoo to mark its reopening to the public today. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ieThere is some limited availability to visit the zoo in the next two weeks, with people encouraged to look for a free slot online.
New batches of tickets will be made available weekly on Thursday mornings at 11am.
Zoo keeper Ciaran McMahon explained how staff have been in each of the 242 days that the zoo has been closed to tend to the animals.
"Life goes on, it's a living zoo, it's a working zoo, so nothing changes, the world-class care that these species receive when we're open, they receive when we're closed as well," he said.
"It's given us time to enhance some of the habitats that we've had, it's time we didn't want but unfortunately the pandemic has brought it to us, so we were able to do some positive things while we were closed as well.
"Every day has been the same, it's been kind of a Groundhog Day situation for everyone in this pandemic but it's been a great place to be."
Really enjoyed my visit to @DublinZoo today - a great lift to see outdoor attractions like the zoo and @fotawildlife open again. pic.twitter.com/tmFTMtZMzv
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) April 26, 2021
On a busy day in normal times, animals would react to the noise, especially the more social primates, but until this morning, things were very quiet in the zoo.
Mr McMahon doesn't believe the return of crowds will be a shock to the animals, but it will be interesting to see how they react.
"We'll be watching that very carefully, especially with our large apes and see how that goes but I don't think we're going to have a situation within that realm there but it will be nice to have the noise of people around again."
