Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

That is clearly another issue the committee has reflected on and it is a really important issue. The most important message is that we do not want to continue with blended learning. That is really important. We want to absolutely maximise attendance. We are planning for contingencies that blended learning may need to be in place depending on the virus and so on, but that is not something we want. It is quite clear that blended learning cannot and does not work for everyone and that the role of attendance in schools is vital. Much research has been undertaken on this, both within the Department by the inspectorate and independently by other bodies. Some research was published in recent weeks by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and researchers in Trinity College Dublin, so we know the impact of that and-----