A significant easing of restrictions may come sooner than anticipated as the current Omicron wave has reached its peak and case numbers begin to fall.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is to meet on Thursday to discuss the latest Covid data and make recommendations to include ending the 8pm curfew on the hospitality sector.
It is expected that NPHET will propose extending the opening hours of pubs and restaurants to midnight and will see a return to 100% capacity at outdoor sporting events.
Other measures such as the number of people permitted to attend indoor sporting and entertainment events as well as the capacity allowed at weddings are also expected to increase.
The measures will likely come into effect from the end of January or the beginning of February. However, the calling of a Cabinet meeting on Friday has not been ruled out as pub and restaurant owners call for the introduction of the new rules to be implemented immediately.
The government is said to be optimistic about Ireland's current Covid situation, with a senior source saying: "It is fair to say that the outlook right now is encouraging."
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan met with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly on Monday to give an update on the current trajectory of the disease, the Irish Mirror understands.
Another senior source has said the reopening may come sooner than expected but only by a few days.
They said: "It [reopening] may only be a few days earlier if it does happen, but businesses will be given plenty of notice. There is cautious optimism that we are pulling through the worst of Omicron now and the public have to be applauded for their efforts.
"But we will have to see what NPHET has to say before any final decision is made."
A member of NPHET has also said she expects Ireland to come out of restrictions "reasonably quickly".
Speaking to RTE's Morning Ireland, Dr Mary Favier said: "We need to get back to our lives, it's so important, and people have put down an extraordinary two years... It'll be more weeks than months. We need to rediscover who we are and how we live our lives.
"Those who are Covid-phobic will need to take it slowly, but we should be able to come out of restrictions reasonably quickly."
