The Leaving Certificate will start on Wednesday, July 29, it has been confirmed.
Minister for Education Joe McHugh made the announcement in the Dail on Thursday evening.
Parents can also look forward to a refund on school bus fees at the end of this school term.
Mr McHugh also announced some more relief for the parents of Leaving Cert exam children with the suspension of exam fees until after the exams.
The full exams timetable will not be published until the first week of June because Mr McHugh said last night that he wants the most information possible before making final decisions.
The Minister told the Dail that pro-rata refunds of school transport fees for days the buses didn’t run - and were paid for in advance by parents - is the “fair thing to do.”
Mr McHugh said: “Following the initial announcement that schools would be closed until the 29th March, and in light of the exceptional circumstances, it was agreed that school transport contractors would be paid at the normal or full rate for the period up to 29th March 2020.
“It was then decided that a payment of 50% would be afforded for the week commencing Monday 30th March until Friday 3rd April 2020 and again for last week and this.
“I am happy to now be able to say that I have decided that this 50% payment will continue whilst schools are closed as a result of the public health restrictions.
“Given that the school transport service has not been available to children for the last number of weeks, I have decided that at the end of the school year when the exact impact in terms of numbers of weeks of school closure is known, a refund for that period of closure will be issued to parents.”
The deadline for the payment of the exam fees, which are €116 for a regular sitting and €301 for a repeat, were due at the end of the month, which is next week.
With households strapped already by the impact of the coronavirus shutdown, many parents and students were struggling to come up with the cash.
Mr McHugh confirmed that this deadline has now been extended until after the exams.
But Labour education spokesman, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, criticised the Minister for not going far enough here and called for the fees to be waived in these very special circumstances.
Fianna Fáil education spokesman, Thomas Byrne, was also critical of Mr McHugh.
He is calling for an end to uncertainty for parents and students for the rest of the school year.
He said: “One thing students need is clarity.
“The reason they haven’t clarity is constant stream of leaks
“It’s outrageous, for instance, the Taoiseach spoke on instagram about the cancellation of the Leaving Cert before anybody knew about it
“This uncertainty has to end.”
