Education Minister Norma Foley, teacher unions and other education partners have agreed they want the Leaving Cert to go ahead – but they are no closer to getting sixth years back into the classroom.
Education Minister Norma Foley is braced for a wave of Covid cases in schools when they reopen.
The minister is beefing up the resources that her department provides to the dedicated HSE school-support teams to ensure there is a timely response where a positive case is detected.
School inspectors have been working with the HSE teams since the end of October, but more are being assigned to the task and they will also put in longer hours.
Overall, the plan is to increase the capacity of teams by 70pc in the fortnight around the reopening and the weeks immediately afterwards.