The government is planning to increase the fines for non-essential foreign travel to €2,000.
At the moment, people can be fined €500 for going overseas on holiday.
The fines came into effect in recent weeks, as part of a range of measures introduced to limit non-essential travel abroad.
In the last week, around 4,500 people arriving at Dublin Airport last week had been on holiday.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has asked the Health Minister to increase the penalty for non-essential international travel:
Speaking in the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: "About 60% of those travelling are returned Irish holidaymakers."There's a sense the €500 is not sufficient disincentive to travel abroad - the Government is considering increasing that to €2,000, to act as a significant deterrent."
Increasing the fines would mean a couple travelling abroad on an unnecessary journey could face a €4,000 euro bill if stopped on the way to the airport.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar told the Last Word last night that it's most likely the government will continue to advise against non-essential foreign travel for the rest of the year, if not into 2022.
