Should the school summer holidays be shortened? 

Minister for Education Helen McEntee has said there are advantages to the status quo, arguing the summer “gives everybody a chance to take a break”.

However, she admitted the lengthy period without schools does present parents with “challenges”. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, journalist Christie Russell said she “had to laugh” at the Minister’s suggestion that the holidays give people a break. 

“It certainly does not,” she insisted. 

“Maybe if you’re off for the whole summer it does? 

“But if you’re a working parent, trying to make your child being off for two months work when you’ve got little or no leave, it’s certainly not a break - it’s a struggle.” 

A family together on a beach. Picture by: Dicky Bisinglasi / SOPA Images/Sipa USA.

Ms Russell continued that the issue of summer holidays is a “very complicated” issue. 

“Any mother I talk to finds that the school holidays, as they stand, are just too long,” she said. 

“There’s been so much research on it as well, about the summer learning gap where kids forget everything they’ve learned over the summer. 

“Even a certain amount of teachers I know feel it’s too long.” 

Ms Russell added that she and her husband are finding the holidays “just exhausting” and believes they are “not a break at all”. 

“My husband was up at six so he could get all his work done, so he could hand over to me to try and do a bit of work,” he said. 

“We’ve got it up on the board when he’s got to go to a summer camp later on, the other’s being ferried out somewhere else.” 

School children in Britain get six weeks off for their summer holidays, but Ms Russell believes even this is too long. 

“I’d be more in favour of four or five, to be honest,” she said. 

“Then trying to get slightly longer breaks throughout the year.” 

Children in school uniform. Picture by: PjrTravel / Alamy.com.

By contrast, Siobhán O’Neill White of Mams.ie came out strongly in favour of long summer holidays. 

“I actually love a break and I welcome it,” she said. 

“I work from home, so I do have a bit of flexibility.” 

She added that while the time off is “not easy” for everybody, parents need to consider the needs of teachers as well.

“I have two sisters who are teachers and I can tell you, they absolutely do not want the holidays shortened whatsoever,” she said. 

“I think school can be really challenging and I think for teenagers, it’s a long day, there’s a lot of homework, there’s a lot of work involved. 

“I think they really need the downtime to reset.”

Main image: A grandmother with two grandchildren sitting on beach. Picture by: parkerphotography / Alamy Stock Photo.