Current Level Five coronavirus restrictions could last as long as May, a member of the National Public Health Emergency Team has warned.
The strict lockdown was implemented just after Christmas and is due to remain in place until at least the end of the month.
Cabinet is then set to examine the situation on January 31 before they make a decision on whether or not to ease or extend restrictions.
However Dr Mary Favier President of the Irish College of General Practitioners and member of NPHET has signalled that the restrictions may need to be extended until as late as May as case numbers are not dropping fast enough.
Speaking to Newstalk she said: "I think we're not doing enough and there's still too much movement.
"When I go to work this morning after this interview, I'll notice the traffic on the road is still heavier and faster and more of it than there was in March of last year.
"Something is happening this year that's different to [last] March, and it's because more people are going to work, more people are seeing that there's some wriggle room.
"And we need to stop that: we need two to three weeks of absolutely staying at home.
"Until we do that, our numbers will decline very, very slowly.
"We're seeing patients who don't want to attend and we have to try and really encourage them, we have to make sure that non-Covid illness is still looked after, and our hospitals need to be protected.
"Otherwise we're going to be in this situation until March, April, May".
Ireland saw an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 Christmas period at one point seeing over 8,000 cases being confirmed in one day.
While there are encouraging signs that cases are starting to drop there is mounting pressure on the Irish hospital system causing much concern for health experts.
As of Monday Ireland hit the grim milestone of over 2,000 people hospitalised with Covid-19.
A total of 2,023 patients are being treated for the deadly virus in the country's hospitals, while 400 are receiving "high grade ventilation".
HSE Chief Paul Reid told the public that their help "counts" as healthcare staff are working to stay in control.
