Updated: Education Minister Joe McHugh has deferred a decision on reopening schools until April 19th next.
Schools across Donegal and around the country did have a provisional shutdown date of March 29th.
But that is now going to be extended as the Covid crisis continues to spread.
Speaking said that schools will not be opening immediately after 29 March and there should be confirmation today or tomorrow of the extension of the school closures.
Speaking about State exams, he said that he and his department “really want to make those exams happen”.
He said they owed it to young people to “see this through and try to have the exams this year”.
He said by that he meant “the dates that are defined for this year”. He said his department was working towards this.
Today, as the Government was announcing a series of significant new restrictions to deal with the virus outbreak, the Taoiseach said that “there is a very good chance” that the Leaving Certificate exams will go ahead and for that reason he would encourage students to continue studying for them.
He said the Government was doing “everything possible or feasible that we can so that that group of young people could start college as normal in October”.
“We are all hopeful that schools might be able to come back in May and June and to have the Leaving Cert in the normal way”, the Taoiseach said, but he added that if that did not happen then the Minister for Education was working on contingency plans to allow the Leaving Cert to go ahead.
“The Junior Cert also if possible”, he added but said obviously the Leaving Cert was more important.
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