He also compared sending kids back to school to children jumping on a trampoline.
Stephen Donnelly has compared the risk of sending kids back to school in the middle of a pandemic, to that of driving a car.
In an interview with Virgin Media on Wednesday night, the Minister for Health was asked how he can justify putting 30 children in a classroom together while Ireland's Covid cases are rising.
He replied that there are things in life that "inherently carry a risk", and often they are just things that have to be done.
"We manage risk in our lives. Every time we get into a car, driving a car is an inherently risky thing to do. So we have seat belts, and we have rules of the road.
"Playing sports in an inherently risky thing to do. Our children being on trampolines is an inherently risky thing to do."
When pressed on whether the pandemic is a greater risk than playing sports or driving a car, Donnelly said that it is "not necessarily" the case.
A clip from the interview, which has been shared widely on social media, can be seen here:
https://twitter.com/VirginMediaNews/status/1296165049950765061?s=20
As it stands, children are due to go back to school next week.
