Mr. Paul Rolston:

Within the post-primary sector, it varied quite widely. Much of that was because of broadband facility and access, and in particular this was the case for some of the disadvantaged homes. For example, a number of people may have been trying to use one poor broadband feed into a home.

The bottom line is that post-primary education is really about preparing students for third level education or the workplace. Information technology and access to an online environment is an integral part of both of those goals. This must be a focus in supporting our students in schools and supporting the schools in their ability to teach properly. They must have full and active broadband. It was certainly a priority and one hopes it is still a priority. It is something we pushed for. Hearing stories of any school not having proper broadband access is a major concern.

The closure of schools for three months because of Covid-19 demonstrated the requirements as mentioned by Ms Lynch and others. We must learn from those and implement some of the lessons. There was mention of summer school works and those kinds of emergency provisions. Some of these are required so that education facilities can deliver an education to our children. These are emergencies. As Ms Lynch has said, it is critical that we get our children back to school and some semblance of normality. We must facilitate that and no more than paying companies to support them and keep people in work, we must see these as costs that will have to be borne, supported and paid for in order to get our education system up and running where it needs to be right now and in the short and medium term as we recover from Covid-19.

This should be no different from the supports put in place for workplaces or individuals. Education is critical in the development of any state and it must be seen as a priority for funding where the requirement exists.