The Education Minister has said it is "hard to see" all students returning to school by September if the two-metre rule remains in place.
Joe McHugh said the social distancing limit would make it difficult for children to return.
He told the Today Show on RTE Radio One: "With the two metre rule still in place it's hard to see all students being back in September."
Schools were among the first to close when Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced initial coronavirus restrictions.
On March 12 the Taoiseach announced that schools and colleges would initially close for two weeks until March 29.
However it was later announced that schools would remain closed for the remainder of the school year.
The government previously faced calls to reopen schools in mid June when the threat of the coronavirus was reduced.
But Health Minister Simon Harris quickly shut down any prospect
Speaking on social media he said: “We are planning on getting our schools open for the new school year. They won’t open before that.”
While it's believed September will be the month which will see students back in class rooms some concerns have been raised about how they will look with social distancing in place.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) general secretary John Boyle previously said that schools may not be able to re-open.
"If the public health advice allows for schools to re-open in September then all the proper planning must take place. It is a mammoth task to have the plans in place.
"We have the largest class sizes in Europe, having 30 children in an 80 square metre classroom with one or two adults may not be possible initially in September.
"If we couldn't have large groups of students sitting in a room doing the Leaving Cert then having lots of children in a classroom was always going to be an issue."
