Pubs and restaurants should be limited to take-away services only over Christmas, according to the National Public Health Emergency Team.
The body is said to be at loggerheads with Government over restrictions for the festive period.
The group of health experts also wants to limit the number of people allowed visit each other indoors to six, from one other household only, once restrictions ease next week.
But the Government is expected to kick-back against the latest recommendation, and hopes to reopen restaurants and bars that serve food from next Friday.
While wet pubs would remain closed, any pub with a working kitchen could reopen indoors, under the latest plan from Ministers.
Cabinet also wants to allow family members from three households meet together over the holidays.
This is something NPHET believes should only happen starting Christmas week.
Non-essential retail, hairdressers, barbers, gyms, leisure centres and golf courses will be allowed to reopen from December 2.
Crunch talks are expected to continue late into the night.
The news comes after Ireland recorded another 335 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, three more people have lost their lives after battling the deadly virus.
This brings the number of cases diagnosed in Ireland to 71,494, while the death toll now stands at 2,036.
As of 2pm, there were 246 patients in hospital fighting the disease, 35 of which were in intensive care.
There have been 15 new hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Of the cases notified on Thursday, 171 were women and 162 were men.
The average age of those infected was 35, while 64% were under the age of 45.
Dublin saw a worrying rise from recent days, recording 119 new cases.
Kilkenny was the second worse off with 29, followed by Limerick (23), Donegal (20) and Tipperary and Cork (19).
The remaining 106 cases were located in 19 other counties.
