Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses today and thank them for their time and their opening remarks. I do not think anybody can underestimate the challenges faced by schools. The immediate question facing parents, in particular, in March when the schools closed was how long this was going to last. Ultimately, as it went on longer and longer, the question turned to how this is going to change and how the schools are going to reopen. I welcome the remarks and I heard Mr. Mongey this morning on radio outlining some of the challenges.

I want to put on record my own appreciation for many teachers who have done exemplary work in these challenging times. Mr. Mongey mentioned in his opening remarks the issue of equity for schools. We have to recognise that not every school, not every learner and not every child has the same access, unfortunately, to the equipment required to have what Mr. Mongey termed "blended learning".

Online is no substitute for the classroom and we need to get to the point of flushing out all those issues. The resource bundle dated July of this year includes 194 checks, many of which point to the school leaders looking for supports within the school. I get nervous when I see that because those are 194 reasons not to reopen schools. While I welcome the positive guarded comments about reopening schools, and it is important to start from that position, parents, in particular, want to know how and when it will be done. I speak as a father of three, but having been contacted by countless parents who have been in the position, either trying to work from home or maybe doing shift work from home, of trying to teach their children.

The international evidence shows the continued closure of schools will have an impact on our children. That is why I emphasise the need to reopen, particularly, as I have said, where children do not have access to IT equipment. It is critical that schools reopen. In the view of each of the organisations, what exactly is required to open our schools come September?