The government is set to reject proposals from NPHET to move the entire country to level five restrictions.
Instead every county will be moved up to level three on the COVID roadmap.
During a three hour meeting in government buildings this afternoon, Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan failed to convince a team of senior ministers that moving to level five restrictions was the right decision.
Instead, the entire country will be placed on level three - which is where Dublin and Donegal have been.
Government sources said they will be upping the monitoring and enforcement of those restrictions instead of moving to a full lockdown.
It's a serious demarcation point between politicians and public health officials.
The government has never so roundly rejected NPHET's advice, and will now have to outline how the rising number of cases, hospitalisations and ICU admissions will be dealt with sufficiently so the health service isn't overwhelmed this winter.
The cabinet isn't actually meeting until 5.30pm - and some of the Ministers who were not in this afternoon's meeting with Dr Holohan are annoyed the decision appears to have been made without them.
But they also had concerns about shooting up to level five and the social and economic impact that would have.
A formal announcement will come later this evening, but the relationship between NPHET and the government has undoubtedly taken a blow and will be put under the microscope in days to come.
