Mr. Andy Pike:

On behalf of the close to 20,000 non-teaching staff in schools, comprising school secretaries, caretakers, special needs assistants, SNAs, and others, including bus escorts, Fórsa trade union is pleased to have been asked to attend this meeting. We are very much looking forward to the opportunity to engage directly with the committee on these matters. Our opening statement covers five main areas: the position of staff with underlying health conditions; the availability and use of PPE; arrangements for attendance and testing; classroom supervision; and the use of isolation rooms.

We wish to make it clear that as the largest public service trade union in the State, Fórsa continues to support adherence to public health advice as we have done since the outset of the pandemic. Our comments today are intended to inform debate on the optimum way to manage the pandemic and our schools within the context of the prevailing public health advice.

The position of staff returning to school with underlying health conditions continues to cause concern. Staff such as SNAs and bus escorts are not able to practice social distancing due to the nature of their role. SNAs work side-by-side with students throughout the school day and bus escorts work in vehicles for several hours at a time in confined spaces where social distancing is simply not possible.

Not all students can or will wear face coverings. For instance, many students with additional care needs find wearing a face covering very difficult, if not impossible. SNAs and bus escorts also provide personal intimate care for students who will not use face coverings. Staff with underlying health conditions who have been classified as high risk should they contract Covid-19 have in many cases been advised to attend work in circumstances, despite their treating physician or specialist having advised against this.

Some progress has been made by way of securing a review of the initial occupational health assessment. However, we remain concerned that staff may still be directed to work side-by-side with students contrary to the HSE advice which states that those in a high-risk group should work remotely and that if they have to attend a workplace they should practice strict social distancing. This is not possible for SNAs and bus escorts.

The Department has advised schools that a range of PPE is available and can be purchased. This includes face visors and medical grade face masks as commonly used throughout our health and social care services on a routine basis. Staff are now reporting that a number of schools have either refused to purchase such equipment or are requiring staff to reuse face masks contrary to HSE advice. It is too early to be definitive as to the extent of this problem. We intend to survey members early next week on this issue. We can state to the committee that a significant number of staff are today providing personal care to students without adequate PPE. The equipment in question is in plentiful supply and is inexpensive. A medical grade face mask that provides protection against Covid-19 costs less than 50 cent.

We support the protocols for testing students and staff and note that the HSE is developing supports for school schools with regard to rapid testing. While we hope incidents of Covid-19 transmission in our schools we low, we believe there are advantages to conducting routine testing within our schools and universities. The introduction of regular testing in schools would maintain confidence that a safe working environment for students and staff can be maintained and would provide a degree of certainty for the school community, including parents.

There is one area where we believe public health advice could be reviewed, namely, the use of temperature testing. The current advice for parents is that children should not attend school if they have certain symptoms, including a pyrexia of 38°C. To date, temperature testing has not formed part of the measures introduced to combat the pandemic. While there has been no formal advice to schools to track temperatures, we have dealt with many queries about whether it will be required in schools and clarification would be helpful.

Other stakeholders may wish to comment on classroom supervision as it is an issue that should only affect teaching staff.

Fórsa, however, is concerned that the Department's guidance and local practice may allow for special educational needs teachers to be deployed to supervise mainstream classes to cover absences. Such practices reduce resources for students with additional care needs. Where this takes place, SNAs are very concerned they may then be asked to supervise classes. This is not their role, they are not qualified to supervise classes and they receive no recognition when they have to undertake such duties on instruction from a principal. We would prefer to see a much stronger policy from the Department on this issue.

The use of isolation rooms for students exhibiting symptoms will without doubt be problematic. Examples are now emerging of schools having simply no space for such a facility. In one instance the isolation area in a school consists of a small Perspex partition hanging from the ceiling in a school secretary's office. Difficulties are also apparent in the supervision of students awaiting collection by parents where SNAs may routinely be asked to provide this supervision, taking them away from their allocated students. We suggest that these arrangements are reviewed to ensure that students with additional care needs are not denied access to their SNAs.

The reopening of our schools is of critical importance to the well-being of students, families and our society as a whole. The efforts made by staff across the country to ensure our schools are ready to welcome back students is an example of the public service at its best and it should be recognised accordingly.

That concludes our opening statement. We thank the committee for the opportunity to meet and discuss these issues.