The Minister for Education Norma Foley says she's "confident" that all children will be back to school next week.
The Fianna Fail TD praised the "phenomenal" work being done by across the country to reopen the schools.
She also said she's hopeful that schools will still open in the counties under restrictions but will await advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
However, when quizzed over how secondary school buses could accommodate children at half capacity and where an additional 1,600 buses required would be found, she admitted it was "quite a logistical challenge" to achieve by next week.
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland on Friday, the minister said it might be possible for some parents whose children are in a catchment area served by a school bus to bring their child to school and claim back compensation from the Government for costs incurred.
Reacting to the resignation of her Fianna Fail colleague Dara Calleary just minutes earlier, she said his decision to attend a golf event in Connemara with 80 others “really was a very serious error of judgement.”
Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland she said: “I understand the anger and frustration and indeed the disappointment really. We are all being asked to play our part as we journey through Covid-19. It absolutely should not have happened."
She added: “Dara has made a fullsome apology. His remorse is absolutely genuine and I think he has put up his hands, indeed he has put up both hands now and he has resigned and I think it is the measure of the man that he has done that.”
Minister Foley added that Mr Calleary has "shown leadership" by resigning and had “done the honourable thing in this instance."
"He has acknowledged it shouldn't have happened, he has accepted personal responsibility and I think the appropriate action that he has taken."
When asked about others who attended the event, including EU Commissioner Phil Hogan, Senator Jerry Buttimer who has since resigned, a judge and other politicians, she responded:"I'm not aware as to who actually was there at the event but each of the others, I have no doubt they need to look at their own personal circumstances and look at their own situation and indeed, perhaps judge it against at the standards Dara has set."
