The Tánaiste has said the Government will not consider raising restrictions beyond Level 3 unless they believe it's necessary.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar said one of the toughest's decisions he made as Taoiseach in March was to impose lockdown on the country, and which resulted in thousands of people losing their jobs.
All counties nationwide are under Level 3 restrictions until midnight on October 27th.
It comes as 617 more cases of COVID-19 were reported in Ireland yesterday, as well as five additional deaths associated with the virus.
Speaking ahead of the publication of Budget 2021 on Down to Business with Bobby Kerr, Mr Varadkar said a reduction on the VAT rate for the hospitality sector was being considered.
He said: "It's heartbreaking for me to think that just in the past week or so, we've had to close down hospitality and 60,000 people went back on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment after being laid off for the second time this year.
"No government wants to be making those kinds of decisions, we don't make them lightly and we certainly won't go to Level 4 or Level 5 unless we believe it's necessary.
Mr Varadkar said a reduction in the VAT rate for the hospitality sector is something that is being looked at ahead of next week's Budget.
The industry has been one of the hardest hit by closures during the pandemic and has called for a VAT cut from 13% to 9%.
He also suggested a change in approach to funding supports for firms that remain closed due to COVID restrictions.
Mr Varadkar added that "there will come a time" where a judgement call will have to be made over what businesses are going to be viable in the future.
He said: "I'm not willing to make that call yet.
"It may turn out that the pandemic changes things forever and pubs may never be the same again, aviation may never be the same again, and nightclubs may never be the same again.
"But I still hope and believe that with the development of a vaccine, with improvements in testing, improvements in treatment, that we will get to a point, hopefully by the middle of next year, where life returns to something that it used to be like and that those businesses get a chance to survive."
Brexit
It comes as the Minister sent a letter to 250,000 businesses this week reminding each of them what they need to do to be prepared for the new trading environment that would be in place post-Brexit on January 1st.
The letter, which also contains information on financial supports from government, aims to advise businesses on how to adapt to new customs, controls, product compliance, supply chain and cash flow issues.
Mr Varadkar said that while a lot of enterprises are prepared for Brexit, he is concerned that some smaller firms that only trade intermittently with Britain might not be.
He added: "I think a lot of business are prepared but some might be distracted by COVID, or some might be assuming that there's going to be some sort of trade deal that will make these issues go away, but it won't.
"No matter what kind of trade deal there is, or if there's none at all, there's going to be changes on January 1st."
Public health
Mr Varadkar also responded to complaints by hauliers over traffic delays seen this week following the introduction of Garda checkpoints.
He said: "We are in the middle of a global pandemic and well into a second wave here in Ireland and we do have to prioritise public health.
"The level of traffic we're seeing on our roads is indicative of the fact that a lot of people aren't actually following the restrictions and that's one of the reasons why the virus is on the rise and that's damaging for business too.
"I'm sorry about the inconvenience but it's being done to protect lives and also to protect business and the economy as well."
The Tánaiste added that people should not be crossing the border to Northern Ireland, apart from essential travel, as the rise in coronavirus cases there is "extremely worrying".
