Cabinet has agreed an 8pm curfew for the hospitality sector to take effect from Monday.
Ministers rejected advice from NPHET, which recommended a 5pm closure for those businesses.
The measures are due to last until January 30th, but will be reviewed on the 11th.
It is expected there will be an exemption for weddings which can go until midnight, with a cap of 100 attendees.
Spectators at outdoor sporting events will be limited to 5,000 or 50% capacity.
It comes as Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan says NPHET is not trying to target any particular sector.
Health officials have said an optimistic read of the Omicron variant wave would see 600 to 1,000 people requiring hospital care.
Their pessimistic scenario would see 2,000 people in hospital and more than 200 requiring ICU care.
They say evidence shows the Omicron variant is spreading two to four times faster than Delta, and makes up 35% of new cases on Friday.
While there have been 3,638 cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
As of 8.00am Friday, 420 patients are hospitalised with the virus - of which 105 are in ICU.
