Cabinet is expected to announce the end of mandatory facemasks in schools, shops and on public transport this morning.

Government party leaders last night agreed to accept the National Public Health Emergency Team’s advice on mask wearing in public settings.

Cabinet will this morning give the green light for them to become optional from the start of next week.

People will no longer be required to wear them in schools, shops and on public transport – although they will still be advised to wear them in public transport settings.

Cabinet will also consider the Institutional Burials Bill - legislation designed to set up an agency to oversee the exhumation and identification of remains at sites like Tuam where inappropriate burials took place.

It comes as Taoiseach Micheál Martin is traveling to Berlin for talks with the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Over a working lunch at the Chancellery, it is expected the two leaders will discuss the ongoing situation between Russia and Ukraine, economic recovery after COVID, Brexit and climate policy.

The meeting may prove a tone setter for Ireland's relationship with Germany post-Angela Merkel.