Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly says that an increased capacity for this month's All-Ireland football final is 'unlikely'.
Last month's hurling decider saw 40,000 in attendance at Croke Park and a government announcement on Tuesday confirmed that outdoor venues can operate at 75% capacity from September 6.
That would allow a crowd of just over 60,000 into the football final between Mayo and Tyrone on September 11, but Minister Donnelly doesn't believe this will be the case.
He told RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland: "I'd say it's unlikely.
"What we had is agreement on a 50% capacity, so about 40,000 people be they vaccinated or unvaccinated. Sixty thousand people fully vaccinated in my view is probably a lower risk than 40,000 people.
"Remember 90% of the adult population is already vaccinated. So if you had an adult population in Croke Park regardless the vast, vast majority in there are fully vaccinated anyway.
"I was talking to Minister Jack Chambers about it and they spend a lot of time working with the sports organisations on whether or not the events themselves are causing outbreaks.
"Interestingly the events are very well run and there isn't a lot of data suggesting there are super spreader events from the stadiums.
"When you talk to the local testing teams what they find is back in the counties [involved] they begin to see outbreaks because people are going to watch the match in pubs or in people's houses."
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