Decision on Leaving Certificate expected this week
Education Minister Norma Foley may bring a measure to Cabinet tomorrow.
Leaving Certificate students will be given clarity on their exams this week, according to government sources.
Reports have suggested that Leaving Certificate students will return to school on February 22, with primary schools back on March 1, but government sources cautioned that talks with unions were still progressing late last night.
One senior source said that while there is "every possibility" that Education Minister Norma Foley could bring a measure to Cabinet tomorrow, "it's not all boxed off just yet, there is still a lot to be decided".
A number of sources said that while they hoped the decision could be made as early as possible, "there will be clarity this week".
Yesterday, 17 further deaths related to Covid-19 were reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).
There have also been a further 788 confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland.
A total of 315 were in Dublin, with 61 in Galway. 59 cases are in Meath, with 42 in Louth, 33 in Kildare and the remaining 278 cases spread across all other counties.
Nphet also confirmed that as of February 11, 261,703 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Ireland.
Some 171,239 people have received their first dose, while 89,834 people have received their second.
Meanwhile, support payments will continue for those businesses and sectors forced to remain closed during the extended lockdown, the Taoiseach has assured.
Michéal Martin made the comment as he confirmed on Friday that level 5-type restrictions will remain in place beyond March 5 with the Government adopting an extremely cautious approach towards reopening the economy over the next two months while the vaccine programme is being rolled out.
He was asked directly if he could say when the hospitality sector, including hotels, pubs, cafes, and restaurants, and personal services businesses like hairdressers could reopen.
“I don’t right now have a date [to re-open] to be honest with you,” he said.
“I think we would have to have a critical mass of the population vaccinated.”
But he said the various business supports will continue.
“We will not be pulling the rug from any of those supports, there will be no cliff-edge in relation to the supports ranging from pandemic unemployment support to others,” he said.
"That is part of the response to Covid-19 and we discussed it at an economic Cabinet sub-committee last week.
"We had €5.5bn prepared as a contingency fund for Covid-19 — we did not anticipate that we would be using it so quickly or so extensively in the first number of months of this year but, as it transpired, we are."
