Mr. John Boyle:

On the primary sector, at the end of the month we will be able to do a survey to find out how many primary school children were self-isolating for two weeks. We already have one class doing so. If only 15 children were in a class, as is the case in Luxembourg, Lithuania and various other countries, not as many children would lose out on their education in the classroom. However, we have up to 35 children in a class. Notwithstanding what Government spokespersons have been saying and what some members of Government parties have said today, we need action on class sizes. If class sizes were reduced to European averages and there was a properly funded system in place to support remote learning in cases where a class must stay at home and children are self-isolating, we would be dealing with the pandemic in the same way our European counterparts are dealing with it. We want the children of Ireland to have the same opportunities as children elsewhere in Europe, even in a pandemic. Smaller class sizes are the way to go.