The chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance says parents are 'crying out' for schools to be opened up.
Tanya Ward told Newstalk Breakfast some advice is moving in the right direction.
But she says more needs to be done.
"What we know is happening is for disadvantaged children and children with disabilities, the longer they're out of school the more they'll experience learning loss.
"This has even been recognised by the Department of the Taoiseach in their own papers that they issued around the pandemic.
"But one of the things that has really come to us coming up through the member organisations... is that actually two-parent and one-parent families who are working are also really straggling at the moment and are very stressed by trying to manage the child's education alongside trying to work as well.
"People are just crying out for schools, or some activities, to be opened up."
"If you ask a child or a young person what they miss most about school or what they love about school, they'll say it's friends and play.
"Children learn through friends and play, so online learning isn't going to help them."
"We've tried to do the FaceTime, the Zooms and it's just not the same.
"They don't interact in the same way as adults or older teenagers on social media - so you kind of need that face to face contact".
On NPHET considering the current restrictions on children, she said: "I do welcome the fact that they are aiming to get some summer projects up and running for children with disabilities or disadvantaged children.
"That's absolutely key - I hope though they could extend school meals through the summer months as well, because we know a lot of families are really struggling to keep their heads above water and holiday hunger shouldn't be another thing that children have to deal with as well".
