Not all of the one million students in Ireland will be back in school by Saint Patrick's Day.
While the country waits for the official government update on what will happen with the current set of restrictions, in place until January 31, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has given some new information regarding the return of students to schools.
Speaking to Brendan O'Connor on
RTE Radio One this morning, Martin said that not all of the students would be back in school by mid-March, and that "we are going to have to look at it differently" and that there would not be "one big bang approach because of the transmissibility".
Students have been out of school since the beginning of the Christmas break, and when asked about the details of what would be required for the schools to fully re-open, Martin said that "They have to be somewhere similar to where they were. I don't want to be specific about the actual numbers," and that "because of where we are now in terms of the pandemic the idea of mobilising one million people was the main reason not to open them."
Additionally, Martin was asked about this year's Leaving Cert exams, and stated that a decision on them will be made in the short term, as "There is a range of options that have to be examined."
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