Leaving Cert students urged to minimise socialising to avoid missing exams

Liz Canavan Assistant Secretary to the Department of An Taoiseach said that students who wish to sit the exams will not be able to avail of alternative dates and will receive a calculated grade if they miss their exams due to illness. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Leaving Cert students have been urged to keep their contacts low in the run-up to the exams.

Assistant Secretary General at the Department of the Taoiseach, Liz Canavan, said in her weekly address on Covid-19 that students who wish to sit the exams will not be able to avail of alternative dates and will receive a calculated grade if they miss their exams due to illness.

Urging the country to "not fall at the final hurdle", she asked those wishing to meet others at the weekend to "think safe, think of others, think outdoors" and pushed students to stay as safe as possible.

“It’s really important that students continue to follow the public health guidance and limit their contacts over the coming weeks, and we’re asking them to avoid social gatherings and to consider their own opportunities and the opportunities of their friends and classmates who intend to sit the exams.

“Nobody wants to see anyone’s chance to sit the exams taken away because they have become a close contact or contract Covid-19,” she said.

Ms Canavan said that full guidelines on how exams will take place will be issued by the State Examinations Commission next week.

One-third of those adults eligible has received a first dose of Covid vaccine which, she said, made the "path ahead clearer".

While "not out of the woods yet", she said that just over 1.7 million doses of different vaccines have been administered and 457,000 people over 70 have received their first shot as the programme "picks up momentum".

In total, 60% of those over 70 have been fully vaccinated, along with 234,000 high-risk people who have been given their first shot. More than 200,000 people over 60 have received their first dose.

"We need to make sure we stay as safe as we can. 

There are brighter days not far away.

Ms Canavan also stressed that there will be no cliff edge when pandemic-related supports end.

“It’s important to emphasise there will be no cliff edge in financial supports for businesses. Further economic recovery measures will be introduced to help businesses and to help people get back to work,” she said.