The Green Party leader has insisted that any school closure will be for a “very short period” as the country gets to grip with surging coronavirus figures.
Eamon Ryan was speaking on his way into a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on COVID-19.
The Department of Education has said it fully intends for schools to re-open on January 11th; however, teachers unions and opposition parties have called for that to be delayed by at least a week.
The committee is now expected to back plans to keep schools closed for the rest of the month.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan says school closures shouldn’t last longer than 2/3 weeks and that it can’t be like last year
Cabinet sub-committee on #COVID19 meeting shortly to consider if schools should close until end of January pic.twitter.com/AlH65Vy0vP
— Stephen Murphy (@Stephen_Murphy5) January 5, 2021
Minister Ryan told reporters this afternoon that any delay to the reopening of schools must be “short-lived.”
“I don’t think this can be like last year where for three, four months was it the schools were closed,” he said.
“That can’t [happen] because it does have a real effect on the health and wellbeing of our children.
“So, if we are doing it, in my mind, it will be for a very short period and we absolutely accept all the evidence that shows children do need to be in school and it is a really important part of their development in a whole range of different ways.
“So, if there is any temporary closure, just because of the scale of the pandemic at the moment, in my mind, it should and will be short-lived.”
Meanwhile, the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said any decision on closing schools will not mean they are unsafe moving forward.
“We are seeing thousands and thousands off new cases a day,” he said.
“Even though the schools themselves are safe places - and the public health advice has not changed on that - there is a lot of mobility and activity around the schools.
“So, given the very serious situation we are in obviously, we have to look at that right now.”
The sub-Committee will consider a range of options for keeping schools closed and a decision is expected to be finalised at a full Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning general-secretary of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) Michael Gillespie said the closure should last "at a minimum until the 18th" to see if the spread of coronavirus has been suppressed.
Health officials last night announced 6,110 new COVID-19 cases and six further deaths.
It marks another record high for the country.
Meanwhile, 817 COVID-19 patients were being treated in Irish hospitals this morning – up 73 on yesterday.
There were 73 people in intensive care with the virus last night.
