Transport Minister Eamon Ryan says people "are the best to make that call" as to whether they should be coming home for Christmas.
He told On the Record people can judge for themselves based on their own assessment.
"There could be a whole verity of different reasons as to why they would [come home].
"You could have a parent who's very lonely at home, or you could have not seen someone in a very long time".
"I think it's not up to Government to make those calls, I think its right for the people - each individual person - to make the calls".
But he said figures suggest airline bookings are staying low so far.
"The forward bookings for flights is very low, it's about a tenth of previous - so the reality is there'll be far less people travelling and I think that's a good thing".
Shauna Reynolds hugs her mother Donna at Dublin Airport's Terminal 2 as she arrives home for Christmas from New York in December 2018.Picture by: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ieHe said that people, and especially those coming home "from higher risk locations", can make their own judgements.
But added: "We're not promoting a huge amount of people returning, we don't want to see a big influx, because we do have to mange this".
His comments follow those of Tánaiste Leo Varadkar last month, when he advised people not to book flights home to Ireland for Christmas.
"I think in terms of people booking flights for Christmas to come home, I'd advise them not to do that at the moment.
"I know that's difficult, I know that's tough but Christmas is six weeks away - and it's too soon now I think for people to be booking flights to come home", Mr Varadkar said.
And Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan previously suggested that international travel could be riskier in the weeks before Christmas.
"The level of disease transmission in this country is improving at a point when the vast majority of countries in Europe are disimproving", he said.
'Third wave in January'
Around the issue of so-called 'flight shaming' those who do come home, Minister Ryan said: "I don't think that's the appropriate response".
"We don't know individual circumstances, so that shouldn't be the way.
"And nor should it - as we open up the country from not going outside your county to start going outside your county - you could say that the same applies".
"I think we saw this summer that we could actually manage".
He admitted there is a "reasonable probability" that we might see a third wave in January, or later in the new year.
But he said pointing fingers is not the answer.
"If we get down to kind of 'That person's responsible' or 'that particular section', I don't think it serves us well".
"I think we've avoided that to date, we should continue to avoid it".
He added that advice that they may have to reinstatate travel restrictions on January 6th "is to give us time to review and see what the numbers are like".
