Cabinet is meeting this morning to discuss the post-Brexit trade deal agreed between the EU and the UK.
The meeting was due to be held tomorrow but has been brought forward.
Separately a meeting of the leaders of the European Parliament groups is set to get underway at around 10am.
The deal, agreed on Christmas Eve, needs the approval of all 27 EU member states and the European Parliament.
The UK Parliament will meet on Wednesday to vote on the agreement.
The deal will come into force on January 1st under an EU law which allows for agreements to be provisionally applied before they are officially ratified.
The European Parliament must ratify the agreement before February 28th.
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews told Newstalk that he will be supporting it.
“It is a consent procedure so essentially we can only say yes or no and I certainly will be voting for it because the alternative no-deal is unthinkable,” he said.
“From what I am reading in terms of statements that have been made, it is clear that the main political parties in the European Parliament look like they are inclined to back the deal.
“So, I think there is only a very small chance of any difficulties arising with ratification in the European Parliament in that timeframe.”
Meanwhile, increased bureaucracy as a result of the change is continuing to cause large delays in the UK.
Roads around the UK's second biggest 'roll-on roll-off' port are going to be re-routed, over concerns about traffic jams because of new Brexit paperwork.
More than a thousand lorries cross the Irish Sea, via Holyhead in north Wales, every day.
From January the 1st, traders will need to fill out customs declaration forms.
Wales's first minister has labelled the British government's planning “shambolic.”
