Dr Cillian De Gascun, a leading HSE expert, has warned that Irish schools and colleges could remain closed after the summer break if the COVID-19 pandemic is not brought under control.

Dr De Gascun, the chair of the HSE’s coronavirus expert advisory group, cautioned that the re-opening of educational institutions in September cannot yet be guaranteed.

Dr De Gascun went on to warn that it is ‘certainly possible’ that such closures will persist for months, saying: ‘We’ll have a better picture over the summer. Restrictions will stay in place until we can see we are controlling it’.

Speaking on RTE Radio One on Saturday, Dr De Gascun added: ‘We are trying to suppress this epidemic. What we are seeing is that with restrictions we can control and decrease the number of cases.

‘Ultimately it’s down to us. There is no magic bullet. Restrictions will stay in place until we can see significant evidence that we are flattening the curve. These next two weeks are really crucial to us’.

At the time of writing, Irish schools and educational institutions have been instructed to remain closed to staff and students, pending review on April 19.

Although Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has conceded that school closures could persist beyond that date, and could endure into May, he has insisted that the Leaving Cert and Junior Cert state examinations will go ahead ‘by hook or by crook‘.

On Friday, March 27, the Government implemented draconian restrictions on movement and social interaction for a period of two weeks.

The restrictions, which oblige Irish people to remain at home unless they are shopping for essentials, engaging in brief outdoor exercise within a 2km radius, fulfilling medical requirements, or going to work in an essential sector, are due to expire on April 12, but official sources have indicated that the lockdown is likely to be extended for at least another fortnight.

As of Saturday, 4,604 people in the Republic of Ireland have tested positive for COVID-19, and 137 lives have sadly been claimed by the pandemic.