Dr Tony Holohan has said he expects schools to reopen next week after the midterm break.
The Chief Medical Officer was responding to suggestions that schools across the country could stay shut beyond this week.
However Dr Holohan claimed there was no evidence in the figures to support keeping the schools closed, and he does not expect to make that recommendation.
He said: "In terms of the data were looking at, we do not anticipate being in a situation where we are advising the Minister and government on public health grounds that schools shouldn't reopen next week as planned."
While HSE expert Dr Siobhán Ni Bhriain eased fears from parents over possible outbreaks among pupils.
She added: "If there's any concern over an outbreak at a school there are public health teams around the country to deal with every single school.
"We accept that every single school can be different, smaller schools and larger schools, or so on, but those supports are there from public health."
It comes after the President of the ASTI said teachers are “very fearful” and “full of worry” ahead of a return to school.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Ann Piggott said they expect schools to open again next week and that "teachers are very fearful and they're full of worry".
When asked about the updated contact tracing system for schools that's set to be put in place, Piggott said that teachers would like to know more about how many cases are in their school.
Discussions have been taking place between the Department of Education, the HSE and teachers’ unions about plans to accelerate testing and tracing once positive cases have been identified in schools.
"We'd like to have more confidence in it. We'd like to ensure that all details are out in the open for everybody to know. Because even if there is a case in schools, teachers currently are dependent on rumours. They would like to know for a fact - is there one case, are there three cases, how much at risk are teachers and students themselves?"
Ms Piggott said they're are concerns about the amount of time it takes to identify a positive case, and that teachers have reiterated their concerns for rapid testing to take place in schools.
She adds: "It can take two to four days for the results to come back and then the contact tracing after that is very slow as well, perhaps another four days. We would welcome any rapid testing but we would certainly like it to be accurate."
As part of the plans, teams consisting of public health professionals and education officials would help to speed up the process, as well as helping to find substitute teachers where required for teacher absences linked to Covid-19 cases.
