Laois schools are set to remain open tomorrow – but could close on Thursday as Storm Emma hits the country.
The National Emergency Coordination Group gave an update on the latest weather advice as a status orange caution is in place.
Chairman Sean Hogan says that schools are “subject to open” on Wednesday.
And Education Minister Richard Bruton says the situation they will “continue to monitor the situation.”
But it will be up to individual schools to make a decision on whether to open or not.
Bruton stated: “We will continue to monitor the situation as it progresses later in the week and will follow any advice from Met Eireann.
“There is a status orange warning in place for this evening and overnight for some counties.
“There is a yellow warning for some other counties.
“Decisions on school closures will be made locally by each school individually depending on the circumstances in their area.”
Forecaster Met Eireann could issue a Status Red weather warning ahead of Storm Emma’s arrival.
And this morning, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy says that if a red weather warning is put in place, public transport will halt and schools will have no choice but to follow suit.
Speaking on RTE Radio One’s Morning Ireland, he said: “If it goes to status red, we will be giving very direct advice to certain schools in parts of the country that they have to close because there will not be school transport there to feed them.
“That will have more of an effect on schools than others.
“And it depends on how far that red weather alert is extended.
“What we do is very much is keep a close eye on this brief, because the travel advisory is an important part of this so, if we get to a point in time where it looks like we will be getting to a red alert, that will mean for school transport that it will cease, that will then have an impact on certain schools and that will be a call that will be made by the National Emergency Coordination Group but with obviously the Department of Education represented in the room.”
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