Reports this morning suggest that the Government could implement a 'Full Level 5' set of restrictions in the coming days over fears of rising cases.
Cabinet ministers are said to be worried about the number of people in hospital with coronavirus and the positivity rate in test rates.
Hospital numbers are 'increasing sharply' with Dr Tony Holohan saying that there was a "concerning trend" of increasing hospital admissions with Ireland 'exceeding the number of people hospitalised in the third wave than the second'.
It is suggested that Government taking further action can 'not be ruled out' with tighter restrictions possible over the coming days according to reports.
It comes as Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said that Level 5 restrictions could remain in place until the most at-risk people in the country are vaccinated.
He said: "The Level 5 restrictions are really only coming into effect over the next couple of days.
"We know that won't be reflected in a fall in case numbers until the first or second week in January".
"No matter what is done, we would expect to see cases rise until the New Year."
Varadkar believes that the roll out of the vaccine will be the beginning of the end for Covid-19.
But he did have some bad news, admitting that although restrictions will be reviewed on January 12, he does not think cases will have fallen enough by then to have a more relaxed lockdown.
He continued: "I think that with the vaccine now being available, I think there would be a case of saying to the Irish people that we should keep these restrictions in place until such a time that we have protected our health care workers and most vulnerable.
"But that also needs to be reflected in the kind of restrictions that we put in place because they need to be sustainable for a prolonged period if they're not just for three or four weeks."
