Taoiseach Micheál Martin has not ruled out Ireland hosting games during this summer's Euros despite being unable to give the assurances on fans that UEFA is seeking.
Host venues have a deadline of 7 April to inform the European football authorities of their planned stadium capacities and any hosts that cannot guarantee stadiums will be at least 25% full risk losing their hosting rights.
Most national associations are relying on their governments to give them permission to open up stadiums to fans and the issue is whether they will be able to predict the situation in June ahead of next week's deadline.
The Government today announced a minimal relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions but despite the Taoiseach saying it would be "very challenging" for fans to return to Irish stadium this summer, he added that that would "not necessarily" mean Dublin will be unable to host its four scheduled Euro 2020 games.
"I'm not so sure how many capitals will be able to have spectators given the degree to which the virus is spreading across Europe," he said.
"There is continuing engagement with UEFA in relation to that issue so we'll see how that evolves."
UEFA are set to remove their maximum spectator limit, currently set at 30% of a venue capacity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to allow bigger crowds at Euros matches.
Russian and English authorities have indicated they could allow larger crowds into venues for the tournament games in St Petersburg and London's Wembley stadium. UEFA are keen to make sure the rules are in place to allow for larger capacities elsewhere, should they be possible.
It is likely that instead of a new maximum capacity, UEFA will leave decisions on increased crowd sizes to local authorities.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's roadmap would allow for limited crowds of 10,000 in the early stages of the delayed tournament but opens the possibility of full houses after the country enters stage four of its roadmap on 21 June.
As well as hosting some group games, Wembley is also the venue for the semi-finals and final of the tournament and UK sport minister Oliver Dowden said yesterday that he was hopeful of a big crowd for the decider.
It is likely, however, that most venues in Western Europe will not be able to get more than 25-50% capacity.
St Petersburg has said it is aiming for 50% capacity while Denmark's government has said they can allow 12,000 fans at 30% capacity at the 38,000 Parken Stadium in Copenhagen while hoping to increase that number.
