Ireland's top public health officials will meet on Thursday to discuss the Covid situation in light of the threat posed by the Omicron variant.
NPHET members including the Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan will examine whether further restrictions are needed before Christmas.
It is expected that recommendations will be made on the management of close contacts and social mixing.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar expects health chiefs to make further recommendations that will subsequently be considered by government.
It is anticipated that a Cabinet meeting will be held on Friday to give people certainty before the weekend and Christmas week.
"I would expect on Thursday there will be recommendations around the management of close contacts, some recommendations designed to decrease the amount of social mixing, and also some recommendations around international travel," Mr Varadkar said on Wednesday.
"When it comes to international travel, it's a slightly different approach. The restrictions we brought in a few weeks ago in relation to international travel were designed to slow the arrival of the Omicron variant in Ireland.
Mr Varadkar said he was not going to speculate about what further measures might be recommended, particularly when it comes to the rules around hospitality.
He said Ireland is in "a strange situation" and not one "we expected to be in even a few weeks ago".
"We're winning the battle against the Delta wave, the number of people in hospital peaked a few weeks ago around 680, it's around 500 now, 450 last night, and the number in ICU peaked at 130, it's falling now," he told Newstalk.
"We're doing better than that most optimistic model so we were winning the fight against the Delta wave and that was down to the fact that the third dose programme is going so well, the fact that the public responded to the public health advice and we reduced our contacts and also a natural degree of immunity building up as a result of exposure.
"Things were going well, and even in that school age group, the number of cases is falling.
"The problem is the thing we hoped wouldn't happen for a very long time is that there is a new variant in the world, the Omicron variant, and that is likely to cause an additional wave of infection in the next couple of weeks.
"That has required us to change tack again which is frustrating, depressing, disappointing but unfortunately necessary because the priority has to be to protect people's lives and make sure our health services aren't overwhelmed in the weeks ahead."
Mr Varadkar added that there is no specific number when it comes to the proportion of cases linked to Omicron which would mean further restrictions would be introduced.
Speaking following the Tanaiste's comments, Taoiseach Micheal Martin issued further updates from Brussels on Wednesday evening ahead of the crunch NPHET meeting.
He said there will not be further restrictions on international travel which is positive news for the thousands of Irish people travelling home for Christmas.
He explained that the emphasis will be placed on testing and the current pre-arrival test rule will remain in place if people want to enter the State.
“We’re going to emphasise the importance of testing before you travel, tests before you engage in social activity..all designed to protect your loved ones, yourself and also participate that bit better in activities," Mr Martin said.
“One doesn’t see specific travel measures in respect of Omicron but I do think the key message has to be everywhere across Europe to redouble efforts, increase vaccination and particularly in relation to the booster vaccine without question, it gives significant additional protection to people from Omicron and reduce the prospect of serious illness.”
When it comes to the hospitality sector and Christmas festivities, Mr Martin said there will be "flexibilities" around New Year’s Eve.
Mr Martin was asked how pubs and bars would handle New Year's Eve when current restrictions mean all licensed premises have to have customers off their properties by midnight.
"The situation is challenging with Omicron and I fully appreciate the frustration people are experiencing because of this long pandemic but people are using their common sense and taking precaution, and flexibility in people's behaviour is going to be there," he said.
"I think being overly prescriptive is not the way forward here and we must trust people as well about how they go about their daily lives.
"Obviously public health advice will come, there will be a meeting of NPHET tomorrow evening and I would prefer to wait for that and government's response to that before getting into specifics, but suffice to say, all, including public health officials, realise the festive season is upon us, an important part of the year where families get together and we recognise the obvious human factors involved and flexibilities will apply."
It comes after Dr Tony Holohan issued a sobering Christmas warning ahead of today's meeting.
The Chief Medical Officer said on Wednesday: “Today marks ten days before Christmas. If you contract Covid-19 today your isolation period will include Christmas Day. This can be avoided by ensuring you take every step possible to protect yourself.
“If you are planning to spend Christmas with older family members, anyone immunocompromised or vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19, it is best that you take precautions from today. Avoid crowds, limit your contacts, work from home unless absolutely necessary, risk assess your environments and make safe choices over the coming days and weeks.
“Everyone should be aware that Omicron spreads very easily and we have now identified community transmission in Ireland, to the extent that this variant accounts for approximately 13% of all reported cases.
“Taking the opportunity to get a booster dose of vaccination is as vital today as getting the first dose was earlier this year. You will begin to receive the benefit of your booster protection within seven days of receiving your third dose.”
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