The country will enter a six week lockdown from midnight on Wednesday.
Cabinet Ministers have this evening approved moving to level five restrictions until the start of December.
The new restrictions will take place from midnight on Wednesday for six weeks taking things up until the start of December.
Changes will be made to wage supports.
A new band will be added to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment meaning anyone who was earning more than 400 euro a week before losing their job will get a payment of 350 a week.
Schools and creches will stay open under level five.
Elite sport, including inter-county GAA & the Six Nations, will be allowed to go ahead.
Children will be allowed to play sport in outdoor pods of no more than 15.
People will be told not to move more than 5 kilometres from their home with a graduated system of penalties including fines being worked on.
There is likely to be a bubble system outlined so vulnerable people are not left alone.
Construction sites will stay open, but all non-essential retail will close with the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.
A full announcement is due around 9pm.
