Eamon Ryan says he's cautiously optimistic indoor dining will be able to return as planned on July 5th.
The Transport Minister said he's also not expecting changes around the plans to restart international travel from July 19th.
A final decision on the next stage of reopening is due to be made next Thursday.
The current plans for early July include indoor dining returning, as well as eased restrictions around household visitors and wedding receptions.
However, some senior ministers have sounded a note of caution around the plans in recent days due to increased concerns around the Delta variant of COVID-19.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Minister Ryan said officials are keeping a close eye on developments around the variant.
He said: "We always knew the Delta variant was likely going to become the dominant variant - these things are inevitable.
"No doubt there’ll be some further variant that continues to change the situation.”
However, he said the findings that vaccines are effective against the variant "gives us some comfort", and also pointed out that COVID-19 case numbers here "have stayed steady" in recent weeks.
He said: “The way we’ve done this opening in Ireland so far as worked - we’ve managed to keep the numbers steady while bringing back some elements of normal life.
“At all stages in this, caution has been the appropriate approach. It has served us well… so we will listen to the health advice next Wednesday."
In terms of international travel, Minister Ryan said he doesn't think the current plans will change.
The current plan is to implement the EU's digital green cert system from July 19th to facilitate international travel within the bloc.
The Government also plans to 'broadly align' with the EU's approach to travel from other countries outside the bloc.
Minister Ryan said the Government doesn't want a 'stop-start' approach to travel, and they're currently "on track" to push ahead with the plans to facilitate travel this summer.
