Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a group meeting today on that issue. I agree with the Deputy that it is important that leaving certificate students have clarity about this. They need to know the rules of the game, exactly what exam they are preparing for and the format and context of it. We will provide them with that clarity in the very near future.

When it comes to the pandemic, we are now moving into a different phase and chapter of managing it. Certainly, the risk in schools is lower than it was a few months ago, in part because the Omicron variant is less severe, because we are now able to vaccinate school children and also because of the level of immunity that has built up in our society. That leads to the reasonable view that we will have to look at all of our guidelines again. There will be a NPHET meeting today. There will be a Cabinet meeting on Friday. On foot of that, we expect to be able to ease restrictions. Following that, the change in the balance of risk will allow us to update our guidelines not just in relation to schools but also in relation to workplaces. We intend to do that.

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