Tanáiste Leo Varadkar has said he wants this lockdown to be the last, if possible.
However, it could mean leaving current restrictions in place for another two months.
Mr Varadkar has also said it will likely be after Easter when the general public will start to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
He said he thinks this month will be the darkest for hospitals and the HSE stating “it’s going to be worse than the first [wave].”
The Tanáiste also reiterated that businesses may stay closed until the end of February “or even the end of March.”
He said that we are looking at another two months of current restrictions but we “could be looking at a minor relaxation” of some measures when the government reviews the situation at the end of January.
He said: “Even if the numbers are falling for two or three weeks, in two or three weeks time the hospitals are still going to be in quite a bad place.
“It’s only then we’re going to start seeing the numbers of people who passed away showing up in the figures and by then we won’t have the healthcare workers and people in nursing homes vaccinated.
“And I think there’s a very strong case to say to people even though it’s very hard medicine, let's stick with this.
“Let's not take the risk of February, of opening up and then seeing us end up in a fourth wave.
“Let's make this the last lockdown if possible.”
He said between now and the first two months of the year it is “going to be a very rocky period.”
