Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has given a clear assessment of the government's plans when it comes to tackling Covid-19 in the weeks ahead.
The Minister for Enterprise was speaking after additional supports were announced for the hospitality and arts sectors following the introduction of further restrictions this week.
Under the measures, the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme will be opened to new applicants subject to certain turnover and entry criteria.
Mr Varadkar, who announced the supports along with Fiance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath, also urged employers to keep staff on the payroll if possible.
The supports are being made available after new measures, which took effect on Monday, mandate that hospitality venues close at 8pm and attendances at events are curtailed.
The new rules will be in place until January 30 as Ireland contends with a wave of Omicron infections.
When asked by reporters where Ireland stands in terms of the situation with the virus, Mr Varadkar said case numbers are high but it remains to be seen what impact this has on people becoming seriously ill.
"In terms of giving an assessment of where we stand, we're certainly seeing the number of daily cases rising again, the numbers that come to the lab as opposed to the Department of Health figures, which sometimes include a backlog or a shortfall," he said.
"The numbers coming through the labs today is well over 5,000 and it's rarely over 5,000 so we're certainly seeing an increase in the incidence of the virus.
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"At the same time, the number in ICU is still trending downwards and the numbers in hospital are stable or falling.
"Generally you would start to see an increase in hospitalisations occur about 10 to 14 days after a rise in cases but that doesn't necessarily mean that won't happen sooner.
"We're obviously watching very closely what's happening in areas that are also being affected by Omicron, Denmark, Norway, the south-east of England and the United States, to see to what extent infections translate into hospitalisations and ICU admissions and that we just don't know yet."
Mr Varadkar has refused to entirely rule out the possibility of new restrictions being imposed in the coming weeks should the situation with Omicron further disimprove.
He added that there is no "secret plan" to implement more rules, although the government and public health officials will be closely monitoring the trajectory of the virus over Christmas.
He was also questioned about whether the measures could potentially be eased before January 30 if the impact of the new variant is not as severe as anticipated.
The Fine Gael leader said: "The plan we hoped would work and the world hoped would work is that we would reach a sufficient level of vaccination, well over 90% of adults vaccinated, combined with a degree of prior infection and acquired immunity, and that would allow us to live alongside this virus with a relatively normal life.
"We were getting there and now Omicron has disrupted that.
"This is a virus that rips up all our strategies and surprises us all.
"Our concern is less about cases and more about hospitals becoming overwhelmed or ICUs filling up and that resulting in deaths.
"But the decision the government has made is that the current set of restrictions remain in place until the end of January.
"Of course, we're going to keep the situation under close review to see if it deteriorates or maybe things don't work out as bad as we feared.:
He added that the government agreed not to speculate about review dates for the restrictions or if they might be eased sooner if the situation improves.
"The clarity we are giving [people] is that these restrictions remain in place until January 30, there are no plans to ease them or relax them between now and then so people at least know where they stand between now and the end of January," he said.
"But there is always the caveat that if things change, dramatically for better or worse, then we can review things."
Mr Varadkar also addressed the issue of schools, with many parents concerned that children will not return to classrooms as planned in the new year if the incidence of the virus continues to surge.
He is confident that schools will close and then reopen as planned around the festive period, with any deviation from this "very unlikely".
"In relation to schools, schools will close as normal before Christmas and they will open as normal in the new year," he said.
"In the very unlikely event that there is any change to that, people will hear it from the Minister of Education first and nobody else and I think that's important that there not be a plethora of voices speculating about schools opening and closing over the course of the Christmas period, that's just not fair on families, not fair on kids, not fair on parents.
"In terms of what we're doing, there is a childhood vaccination programme that's under way, it's being stepped up and I have absolute confidence in the HSE to get that right.
"We have a world-beating vaccination programme and I have absolute confidence in the HSE to get that right.
"We do have grants for schools for ventilation, for HEPA filters. Every classroom is different, every school is different, it's up to them how best to decide to use that."
Mr Varadkar added that whether contact tracing is reintroduced in schools is a public health rather than political decision.
"The good news is that while incidence of the virus among primary school children went very high, it has peaked and it is now falling and that gives me some confidence that schools will be able to reopen safely in the new year," he said.
