Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said that the Government plans to keep full lockdown restrictions in place until March 5.
Mr Varadkar said that the harsh restrictions are set to remain in place for another six weeks should Cabinet agree on the measures which would be in line with measures in place in Northern Ireland.
Cabinet is set to meet tomorrow to discuss the current proposals.
The Tanaiste also said that the Government was looking at a phased reopening of schools in February however he hinted that it would depend on whether cases numbers were low enough.
Speaking on RTE's Claire Byrne Live he said: "The number of cases is coming down... but still nowhere near low enough.
"Our hospitals are in a very difficult position using surge capacity for ICU and critical care at the moment so the advice to Cabinet tomorrow is that we should extend Level Five lockdown as it is until March.
"That's to align us with Northern Ireland but it also allows for the phased reopening of education."
Mr Varadkar said the Government hoped to reopen schools throughout February and March starting with special schools, then primary schools and possibly exam years but said the issue still needed to be discussed with the relevant unions.
Mr Varadkar also signalled that the Government would be ruling out a zero Covid approach adapted in New Zealand and Australia saying it "wouldn't work in an Irish context" after advice from NPHET to suppress the virus instead to a more manageable level.
"We're at the epicentre of a pandemic in Europe, we have the issues with Northern Ireland and we also have essential connectivity with the UK and Europe."
"So zero Covid means getting to zero community transmission cases for 14 days in a row. Melbourne took three months to get from three or four hundred cases down to zero for 14 days.
"For us it could take much longer so in an Irish context it could mean a permanent lockdown and we may never get to zero for 14 days."
