It would be a "huge ask" for Ireland to avoid a Level 5 lockdown, but Level 3 measures "could work" if people follow guidelines.
Martin Coyne, a GP based in Lifford, Co Donegal, explained that the public must stick to current rules and avoid social gatherings.
"It’s a huge decision to go to Level 5," he said.
“And, do you know what? Level 3 would work, if people stuck to it - if people did what they were supposed to do.
“If they did the simple stuff that we’ve all heard: the washing hands, the keeping their distance, avoiding social gatherings, wearing a mask in a shop - all of those things."
He told RTE's Today with Claire Byrne: "Level 3 could work, and we could avoid going to Level 5 - but it’s a huge ask.”
Mr Coyne’s comments didn’t fully match those of Dr Tomas Ryan, a professor in Trinity College who followed him on air.
Dr Ryan, from Trinity’s School of Biochemistry and Immunology, said it “would be appropriate” for Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to recommend Level 5 restrictions after its meeting today.
A frequent critic of the government’s approach to handling the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Ryan said: “At this stage in the story, it does seem that increasing restrictions is the only way to get this under control.
“Our testing capacity has been saturated, our public health physicians are completely overburdened, so tracing is not fully there at the moment.
“And furthermore, we can see that Level 3 is not having a substantial enough effect in Dublin.”
Dr Ryan’s comments comes after the Government became embroiled in more controversy after it emerged that Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly had been told of the “deep concern” within NPHET before the body’s Level 5 recommendation on Sunday.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan told reporters on Wednesday that he was “very clear” about his concerns in two separate phone calls with Mr Donnelly on Sunday - communications the Minister failed to disclose at a press briefing earlier this week.
Opposition TDs have called on Mr Donnelly to clarify exactly what he knew about the virus over the weekend.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin was also briefed after Minister Donnelly's two phone calls with the Chief Medical Officer.
Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall criticised the “division” between the government and NPHET, telling RTE’s Morning Ireland: “The government has shown itself to be pretty incompetent over recent days.”
