Almost 100,000 children will return to pre-school across Donegal and the rest of the country this morning under the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme.
It is the children’s first time returning to school since before Christmas.
It is part of a phased reopening of childcare with a full return planned in three weeks’ time.
The ECCE scheme is part of the State’s pre-school programme, which is delivered by more than 4,000 service providers nationwide.
It entitles early learners to free childcare, three hours a day, five days a week over two years.
Apart from the pre-school scheme, childcare services continued to operate under Level 5 restrictions for the children of essential workers and vulnerable children.
Meanwhile, RTE reports that early data from primary schools, one week after re-opening, has shown that positivity levels of the virus remain very low.
However, both the Government and the National Public Health Emergency Team have been keen to emphasise that all phased returns to school will be monitored on an ongoing basis.