Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said he is “sceptical” of the need for new Covid-19 restrictions ahead of a crunch meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).

Speaking to the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Mr Varadkar said the current wave is stabilising and suggested he is not in favour of imposing more restrictions on “people’s freedoms, family life and businesses”.

However, he said that if things went wrong in the run up to Christmas they would go wrong from a “very high base” because new case levels are still very high.

Mr Varadkar said public health experts have a “genuine cause for concern” with people socialising more over Christmas and said that the Government will “carefully listen to NPHET’s advice on the matter tomorrow before making any decisions”.

Nphet are meeting on Thursday and are expected to recommend more restrictions around hospitality, household visits and live events.

At the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the current wave of Covid has “stabilised” but case numbers are still very high and “can flip in the wrong direction very quickly.”

Mr Martin said he remained “concerned” about the current wave of Covid but noted that 48pc of those in hospital with Covid are unvaccinated, and 50pc in ICU have not received vaccines.

The Taoiseach also revealed he spoke with President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen who said that it will take up to three weeks to assess the real impact of the Omicron variant.

He said the EU is concerned about the high levels of unvaccinated citizens. Ms von der Leyen suggested EU member states should look at mandatory vaccination for citizens.

Mr Martin said the impact of the Delta wave is “severe” across Europe. He said 66pc of adults are vaccinated but there are still 150 million people unvaccinated across the EU.

He said Ireland is doing well with 93pc of adults vaccinated and he said around 10,000 people came forward for vaccines for the first time in the last week.

He said unvaccinated people have had a “disproportionate impact” on the health service and especially on intensive care unit admissions.

A motion about the need for supports for business especially for the hospitality industry through the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was submitted by deputies Cathal Crowe, Christopher O'Sullivan, John Lahart, Jim O'Callaghan, Cormac Devlin, John McGuiness, senators Pat Casey, Timmy Dooley, Gerry Horkan.

The Taoiseach said the Government has “not been found wanting” in providing business and employee supports throughout the pandemic.

He said employment was recovering and the economy is bouncing back since the onset of the pandemic.

Mr Martin said the issue of State support is “under constant review” and said he looks forward to meeting the hospitality sector in the coming days.