Taoiseach rules out extension to school mid-term break

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that keeping schools open remains a key priority of Government 'to ensure that the life chances of our young people will not be impaired'.

Any extension to the school mid-term break has been firmly ruled out by the Government.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the reopening of schools has shown what can be done with collective effort, and compliance with safety guidance and sensible measures.

"As a result, the mental, educational, and physical wellbeing of our nation’s children has been protected and enhanced," he said.

"Keeping our schools open remains a key priority of Government, to ensure that the life chances of our young people will not be impaired," Mr Martin said in a statement.

Minister of State for Skills and Further Education Niall Collins also moved to "knock on the head" any possibility of a longer break than usual at the end of this month.

It had been reported that children could be given a two-week break from school in tandem with further Covid-19 restrictions.

However, Mr Collins said there is "absolutely no plan to close our schools, beyond the traditional one-week break around Halloween".

He added: "This idea that the schools will close around the mid-term break, I just want to knock that on the head. The schools remaining open is a huge priority of this Government."

The possibility of keeping children at home to limit the amount of general travel during a short, sharp lock-down had been floated, as numbers of confirmed Covid-19 cases continue to rise.

However, Mr Collins said: "It was a stated priority, and a delivered priority of Government to reopen our schools successfully. A million pupils and students and children went back to school and to college successfully; there was big money invested in both our primary and our secondary, and in our third level of colleges, and it is an absolute top priority.

"I don't think the parents of children and the children themselves would thank us were we to close the schools, and all the public-health advice which is available shows quite clearly that schools are not an issue in terms of transmission of Covid," he told RTÉ's The Week in Politics.

Meanwhile, the spread of the disease is worsening at pace, according to HSE chief executive Paul Reid. "We all need to get real & play our part to protect patients and our healthcare," he said.

"Increased hospital cases leads to more people in ICU and cancelling heart, cancer, and other care. Let's turn this around quickly by doing the right thing today."