There has been much talk in recent weeks about closing schools early because of the concerns relating to Covid and, specifically, the new Omicron surge. I ask the Minister to confirm that schools will remain open until the last day of term, which is in the middle of next week. A significant number of experts have stated in recent weeks that this should be used as a circuit-breaker, but the same experts have a different opinion on each of the seven days of the week, depending on what suits the media on the day. Children have gone through a significant amount in recent times. Their schooling has been disrupted for the past 18 months. Many of the Covid cases arise from after-school activities such as play dates and birthday parties and so on. I do not want to be a killjoy in the context of birthday parties or play dates but parents have to take responsibility for after-school activities.

I thank the Deputy. The time is up.

When will the Government announce the roll-out of vaccines for five- to 11-year-olds?

I thank the Deputy. The roll-out of the vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds who are immunosuppressed and the most vulnerable will start next week. In fact, the vaccines of the particular paediatric Pfizer dose arrived in the country today. That will start next week. For all other five- to 11-year-olds, it will start in early January.

The Government has no plans for schools to close early before Christmas. It is important to state that many schools in 11 or 12 counties lost two days due to Storm Barra. We must also be cognisant of the impact of the closure of schools on working parents, including front-line workers whom we need in order to ensure we can continue to provide healthcare. We need to take all those factors on board. The Government has no plans for the early closure of schools.