Professor Philip Nolan:

There is no evidence that the opening of schools in any way increased transmission or accelerated the epidemic. The picture is a little distorted by counties Kildare, Laois and Offaly. People looking at the numbers may think they see something but when one takes out Kildare, Laois and Offaly one can see there has been no change in the growth rate of the epidemic as schools opened. As Dr. Glynn has mentioned, in fact the contribution to the numbers of people aged under 18 has decreased and transmission is occurring in older adults or adults above 19 years - that would be the best way to put it. The level of transmission in those aged 18 years and younger has decreased as a proportion when adjusted for the size of the population in that cohort.