Galway Bay fm newsroom - Statement from the Department of Education and Skills
Where possible schools, colleges of further education and third level institutions will re-open on Monday.
However, decisions will be made by schools, colleges of further education and third level institutions on an individual basis depending on the circumstances and conditions in their area.
As always, schools must ensure the safety of those in their care and give due consideration to this when making a decision to re-open.
The position regarding school transport services will be regularly monitored over the weekend. It is expected that Bus Éireann will be in a position to advise schools tomorrow evening on school transport routes that will not operate on Monday and schools will contact the families involved. However, some decisions on individual schools transport routes may still not be confirmed until Monday morning given changing local conditions. Where possible, information on routes not running will also be provided on the Bus Éireann website - http://www.buseireann.ie.
For schools which require repairs, any non-State owned schools should in the first instance contact their Insurance Providers before contacting the Department regarding emergency funding, for any State owned buildings school authorities are free to apply for funding under the Department's Emergency Works Scheme. The schemes circular and application form are available on the Departments website at: https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/Building-Works/Emergency-Works/Emergency-Works.html. For phone queries the number to contact is 057-9325379/5414.
The Minister for Education and Skills would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all those principals, teachers, students and parents who co-operated fully with the safety measures in place over the past days.
