There is a "very strong likelihood" that restaurants and gastropubs will be closed for New Year's Eve, the Taoiseach has said.
NPHET has recommended the measures while also advising that the number of households allowed to mix should be reduced after Christmas.
It warned that the virus is spreading faster than it anticipated after easing restrictions at the beginning of the month.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said "we can't afford" to do Christmas and New Year's in the normal way this year.
The trend upwards in cases is "starting to accelerate" and causing concern for public health officials, with Dr Holohan not ruling out further restrictions in January.
Micheál Martin told the same programme that he believes it is likely the country will be in "level three plus" in January.
The Taoiseach said he was worried about the growing number of COVID-19 cases and added that moving the country to level five restrictions in November was "the right call".
He said: "We did go through six weeks of severe level five [restrictions], that did work to such an extent that we have a low incidence of the virus going into Christmas.
"After six weeks there's only so much people can take and I think you have to balance that.
"Protecting life and public health is the overarching objective, and when you think there are vaccines on the way, why risk too much the lives of people, if we get this balance right we can get there."
"We hope to prevent further surges through taking action over the Christmas period"
Dr Tony Holohan @CMOIreland defends #NPHET's recommendations that Government reimpose restrictions #BKNT— Newstalk Breakfast (@NTBreakfast) December 18, 2020
Yesterday, the Fianna Fáil leader tested negative for COVID-19 after being a close contact of the French President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Martin said NPHET may have looked to other countries when considering their recommendations, such as in the US where there was a surge of cases following Thanksgiving.
He added: "I said in October I wanted to give people a meaningful Christmas and that will happen.
"In terms of mental wellbeing and families meeting, that important but people need to mind themselves."
However, there is now a "very strong likelihood" that restaurants and gastropubs will not be open for New Year's Eve.
"I don't want to pre-empt Government decisions obviously, because other ministers will have things to say as well," he explained.
"But yes, that's the route we'll be recommending to Cabinet.
Mr Martin continued: "If we move early hopefully we can avoid the worst excesses of this virus and the impact it can potentially have on our health services."
Potentially moving into level three plus restrictions in the New Year would allow for as much of the economy as possible to be kept open, including non-essential retailers, he added.
The restrictions have been "very tough" for people in the hospitality, tourism and arts sectors and the Taoiseach said the Government would be working to ensure businesses are viable once the pandemic is over.
He said supports for such businesses could continue to the middle of 2021 or maybe even beyond then.
