"We're seeing the number of cases in primary school children falling quite rapidly."

New restrictions have been introduced since the Omicron variant was discovered in Ireland. But will the Government introduce more in 2022? Parents are understandably concerned about whether or not schools will re-open after Christmas. Cases in the 5-11-year-old cohort were concerningly high earlier in the month, but are now falling. However, despite this fall, people are worried about a spike in cases in January. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar reassured parents that it is "unlikely" that the Christmas break will be extended. He said the reduction in cases in schoolchildren is reassuring. "That gives me some confidence that schools will be able to open safely in the new year," he said. He believes keeping schools open was the "right decision", despite the major backlash. He told Newstalk, “I think it is the right decision that schools close on time. “The good news is we're seeing the number of cases in primary school children falling quite rapidly." "If there ever was a case to close them early it’s not now, it would have been maybe a week ago." "I know people would dispute this - the transmission that's happening is happening mainly in households from adults to children. So let’s not forget children spend 120 hours a week not in school and, I know this is disputed by many people, but they would argue that it’s not driven by the schools, and the logical thing I think from the Government point of view is to close the schools on time as planned and reopen them in the New Year as planned and that applies to colleges as well.” Micheál Martin also recently stressed that things are not as bleak as last year. He said a combination of vaccines, restrictions, and a reduction in socialisation should help overcome the spread of Covid.