Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan says he doesn't currently anticipate recommending an easing of coronavirus restrictions to Government on Friday.
The current restrictions are due in remain effect until next Tuesday, May 5th.
However, there have been warnings that any easing of the current measures could be minimal for now as the number of new cases being reported daily remains higher than health officials would like.
The National Public Health Emergency Team is due to meet on Friday, and will then issue a set of recommendations to Government - with a plan for a phased easing of restrictions over the coming weeks and months expected to be announced.
Dr Tony Holohan today said the numbers are still not where they'd like them to be, and that the number of patients still in intensive care units - 129 - remains high.
Speaking at this evening's press briefing, Dr Holohan said: "I don't see the kind of circumstances that will allow us - certainly today - [to] think we'll be in a position to recommend an easing of restrictions.
"We're going to wait until Friday to make the assessment."
He said while the country has made "great progress" in tackling the virus, he didn't anticipate a "significant additional change over the next number of days".
He noted that officials will keep monitoring the situation, but stressed: "We're at a point where the number of people in intensive care and the number of people in a hospital bed at the moment... is still quite high.
"If we were to ease restrictions at this moment in time, we could potentially find that we would run into difficulties sooner if we were to see an increase in intensive care admissions."
Figures released this evening showed 31 more people with COVID-19 have died in the Republic, bringing the death toll to 1,190.
376 new cases have been detected in the past 24 hours, with the total now standing at 20,253.
