A minimum price for alcohol will be formally approved next week.
But it's understood that plans to ban alcohol sponsorship of sports events will be dropped.
The moves will mean there will be no ban on alcohol sponsorship of sports events, but there will be legal rules around the way in which alcohol advertising can be targeted at younger audiences.
Similar practices already do exist, but only as a non-binding code of conduct - the rules now will have a legal basis.
The compromise brings to an end a long-running row between the Departments of Health and of Transport, which is responsible for sport.
The current health minister Leo Varadkar opposed an outright ban on alcohol sponsorship when he was Minister for Transport, and it now appears he has been able to engineer an agreement with his former department, now run by Paschal Donohoe.
The moves will also introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol, in an effort to tackle the easy availability of cheap drink.
Although there's no word yet as to what exactly that price will be, a price of €€1 per unit has been suggested for beers and ciders. This would stop beer from being sold at any cheaper than €1 per bottle or €2 a pint.
If the same minimum price-per-unit is applied to spirits, it could mean a minimum price of €20 for a standard 750ml-sized bottle of whiskey or vodka.
A cabinet sub-committee is due to meet next week to approve the measures, and the minimum price could be in place by the summer.
However the news has been criticised by a former GAA president who has campaigned to break the link between alcohol and sports.
Dr Mick Loftus said he "couldn't believe" the news.
"When you think 88 people die every month from alcohol in Ireland, every month... if any other thing was causing those problems, wouldn't there be an outcry?" he said.
However he welcomed the formal adoption of the code of conduct, which should mean a legal ban on any alcohol sponsorship of all under-18 sports teams.
