A meeting between coalition party leaders and public health officials on Tuesday night was described as "constructive" ahead of crunch NPHET talks.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan met with NPHET members including the Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan.
Government sources have told the Irish Mirror that they expect Dr Holohan to advise the government to bring in more restrictions when health chiefs meet on Thursday.
Mr Martin and Mr Ryan have both refused to rule out the imposition of more rules in recent days.
The Taoiseach said he would “tease out” the impact the Omicron variant may have with the CMO and figure out how “we respond as a society.”
“As I’ve been saying consistently, I can’t rule anything out and we need good discussions but what I’m heartened by is over the last two months people have responded to public health messaging, they’re changing their behaviour," he told RTE News.
“A week is a long time in Covid, I’ve learned that much over the last while, so what I would say to people is, we all need to hold the collective nerve here. We’ve been through different waves of the pandemic, we’ll get over this wave as well.
"This is a very transmissible variant though, that spreads very fast and that is a real threat to us and we need to be conscious of that and it’s all about working connectively, using common sense in terms of our personal behaviour and people are already doing that," the Taoiseach said.
It comes after Dr Holohan said around 14% of all Covid cases in Ireland are now due to the Omicron variant.
Some 18 infections linked to the Omicron variant have been confirmed here to date.
He warned that this proportion is expected to "rapidly rise" in the coming days as we approach Christmas week.
He also urged people to reduce their contacts over the festive season.
Dr Holohan said on Tuesday: "Results today suggest that approximately 14% of our cases are due to the Omicron variant.
“In line with the experience of many other countries, we can expect this proportion to rise rapidly over the coming days.
“The goal now is to limit the spread of Covid-19 through our tried and tested preventive measures. These measures can protect us and our families and will allow time for the booster vaccination programme to take effect.
“This means that as we move closer to Christmas, we must try to reduce the number of people we meet, avoid crowds and work from home unless it is essential to attend in person.
“I encourage anyone eligible for a booster vaccination to take that opportunity. Boosters are proven to be effective in restoring protection against all variants of Covid-19.”
