Ms Mary Magner:

I thank Deputy O'Dowd, who has reiterated my concerns as a principal of a school with 320 pupils in Blarney, north Cork. I am also concerned about how things will be managed in a practical sense in schools. While we welcome the interim recommendations, which will inform the Department's guidance to us, we need swift delivery of that guidance. I acknowledge that the Deputy was very much at the coalface of what I have to deal with daily in schools and the practicalities of delivering the recommendations in our schools. These recommendations have raised many questions, despite giving us some answers.

Teachers and principals are, naturally, anxious. As a school principal, I do not wish to be in a position to have to send children home because I am not able to get a substitute for a teacher who is sick. The goal of the INTO and primary school teachers is a full return to our schools and we are quite willing to work with the Department in that regard. I welcome the Minister's acknowledgement of all the work that has been done behind the scenes for teachers and principals. She acknowledged that she got a sense of exhaustion from them and encouraged them to take as much of a break as they possibly could before dealing with the practicalities of returning to schools. Putting these recommendations into practice is a major concern for me as a school principal.