Primary and secondary schools are to remain closed until at least February, but Leaving Cert students will be asked to attend for three days a week from Monday.
However, the Teachers' Union of Ireland is calling for these plans to be paused, arguing that an "unprecedented number" of teachers have expressed fears about physically returning to work from 11 January.
The TUI also says schools were not given enough notice and therefore are not prepared for the attendance of 61,000 Leaving Cert students.
To discuss this we were joined by Joanne Irwin, Assistant General Secretary of the TUI, and Arthur Godsil, former headmaster of St. Andrew's College and Director of Godsil Education.
