Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the witnesses for coming in and giving of their time. Mention was made of school principals. I have seen this with my sister who has put her heart and soul into getting her school up and running and reopened safely. It is not just principals, although they are of course in a leadership position, but the whole school community. It is everybody, from parents, volunteers, teachers and SNAs to escorts, caretakers, secretaries and all the others who have put their heart and soul into this. That has been very evident.

I am sure the irony of a Government Deputy urging the unions to act on behalf of children with special needs will not be lost on the witnesses. It was certainly not lost on me, although this is no laughing matter.

I will speak briefly about children with special educational needs and those with additional needs who require additional support to get into school. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work for these children. I will ask Mr. Pike specifically about bus escorts. I realise these are a small part of the workforce but they are, nonetheless, an extremely important piece of the jigsaw in getting children to school. What arrangements are in place to protect bus escorts? I would not be so facile as to compare Covid to trampolining or anything else, but as has been said a million times, nothing we do is completely without risk. We know that but it is the job of the Department to minimise the risk for workers. What arrangements are in place for bus escorts? What arrangements would Mr. Pike like to see put in place to ensure the greatest possible level of safety for his members?