Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in the Republic of Ireland

[5] The broadcasts began on Monday 30 March, aimed at children attending 1st–6th class of primary school (i.e. roughly 6–12 years of age).

[9] Also on 2 April, RTÉ announced it would—on weekend mornings—televise those plays of William Shakespeare on the Junior and Leaving Certificate syllabi to cater for English students at secondary school who had been prevented from attending a live theatre performance ahead of their exam.

[14] A €376 million support package and roadmap on how to reopen all schools in Ireland was announced on 27 July which include additional teachers and special needs assistants, personal protective equipment and stepped-up cleaning regimes.

[20] On 17 December, Minister for Education Norma Foley announced that schools would not close early for Christmas—nor would they reopen later than planned after Christmas—as there was no evidence or recommendation from public health authorities to do so.

[21][22] However, all schools remained closed after the Christmas break, following the government's announcement to move the entire country to full Level 5 lockdown restrictions.

[27] On 22 January, speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Chief Clinical Officer of the Health Service Executive (HSE) Colm Henry stated that COVID-19 transmission levels remained too high for schools to reopen in February.

[28] On 26 January, talks between the Department of Education and unions continued with hopes that schools would be able to reopen on a phased basis between February and March.

[32][33] On 26 July 2021, Minister for Education Norma Foley stated that she was confident that a full reopening of schools from late August and early September would go ahead as planned.

[36] HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry said there was no public health rationale to delaying reopening of schools.

[52][53] On 16 December, all pupils at a primary school in Killorglin, County Kerry began to restrict their movements after 17 people tested positive for COVID-19.

[68] On 19 June, a primary school in County Offaly confirmed a suspected case of the Delta variant with the children told to self isolate at home.

[73] On 19 March, Minister for Education Joe McHugh announced the cancellation of Leaving and Junior Certificate oral and practical exams, with all students given top marks.

[76][77] On 29 April, McHugh announced that all third-year Junior Cycle students would receive a certificate of completion and a report on achievement and that the decision to hold school-based exams and assessments early in the new school year was abandoned.

[87] On 26 August, Foley announced that the postponed Leaving Certificate written examinations would begin on Monday 16 November for those who couldn't get calculated grades.

[99] On 9 March, Minister for Education Norma Foley lost her appeals against findings that two home-schooled students were unfairly excluded from the Leaving Certificate calculated grades process.

[107] On 2 September, more than 61,000 Leaving Certificate students received their results, which were artificially boosted in order to comply with a commitment made by the Minister for Education earlier in the year.

[109] On 6 April, Galway's University held the first non-physical online graduation ceremonies in its history, after bringing forward the examinations of 190 medical students to send them into service in hospitals with immediate effect.

[116][117] In October 2020, all further and higher education institutions across the country moved classes primarily online due to Level 5 lockdown restrictions,[118][119] however buildings of universities and colleges were allowed to remain open to students and staff after the government granted higher-education institutions "essential service" status under the country's Level 5 lockdown.

[121] On 16 February 2021, it was announced that two universities in Galway and Limerick had been hit by major COVID-19 outbreaks of up to nearly 250 confirmed cases due to students breaching Level 5 lockdown regulations, which caused clusters of infection involving up to 40 people.

[122][123][124] On 3 June, speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris stated that he expected students and staff to be back on campus for the new academic year of 2021/22.