Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is no problem. I thank the witnesses for coming in this morning. I want to focus on some of the practical experiences that parents and children are having in this first week back to school and, of course, it impacts different children at different ages.

I refer to what Ms Lynch said about junior infants. The junior infant children have never experienced anything other than going into school and their parents not coming in with them. The difficulty, and I speak from personal experience, is more for the parent than the child on the junior infant side.

It is, however, a different thing for children going into fourth or fifth class who are more socially aware and on whom the long break has more significant psychosocial impacts. When Ms Lynch was here earlier in the year - I believe it was it late May or early June - we talked about the importance of how the children were going back to school as much as when they were going back. We spoke about the emotional resilience and emotional support they would need to cope with coming back, re-establishing their peer networks, coping with a new physical environment and, indeed, anything that has been going on at home for them in the interim. Could Ms Lynch talk about how that emotional support is being acknowledged with schools? I am aware Mr. Roland mentioned the importance of this already but could Ms Lynch talk about that, please?