Irish schools should reopen, according to a WHO expert

However, the National Public Health Emergency Team has played down hopes of this happening.

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A leading expert at the World Health Organisation has claimed it's time to reopen Irish schools. It's amid ongoing concerns about the effect the closures are having on children across the country.

David Nabarro, the special envoy on Covid-19 for the WHO, believes it’s time for Irish schools to gradually reopen. He cited our declining Coronavirus cases and talked about concerns for children’s development.

He explained that:

"The time as come, especially as you've got the numbers of cases really being suppressed and you've got the defences building up".

"The time has come to gradually start re-opening schools just as I believe the government is looking at at this time".

Children aren’t expected back at school until September under the Government’s roadmap for reopening the economy. Cillian de Gascun from the National Public Health Emergency Teams played down hopes of the schools reopening sooner:

"We also know that based on the nature of interactions that children have, they tend to be higher contact."

"They tend not to be as good as practising hand hygiene and social distancing".

The Department of Education says it’s taking its advice from NEPHAT and is looking at what other countries are doing.