The Health Minister will attend a meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team today to discuss the coronavirus outbreak in Italy
A 7th person has died there, while over 200 people are infected.
A dozen towns in the north of the country are in lockdown as authorities race to contain the biggest outbreak of the disease in Europe.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Irish people not to travel to the affected areas
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control now rates the risk of occurrence of similar clusters of cases in other EU countries as moderate to high.
Minister Simon Harris says that it's highly likely that a case will occur in Ireland and today's meeting will focus on advancing preparedness plans.
Meanwhile, the IRFU says it has no plans to cancel the Ireland Italy 6 Nations rugby match at the Aviva in Dublin on the 7th March.
The game has been in doubt over coronavirus concerns.
