A number of leading children's charities have said the blanket closure of schools is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Legal advice obtained by the charities has also found the closure of schools, even with the provision of remote education, is unconstitutional.
The charities have called on the Government and education partners to reopen schools immediately and keep them open to limit what they say is the negative impact of lockdown on a generation of children.
Charities including The Children's Rights Alliance, The National Parents Council Primary, Barnardos, the autism charity AsIAm and Inclusion Ireland also said the State needs to make up for the loss in learning that