Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Before we wrap up I would like to ask a couple of questions. On a personal level, like the previous speaker, I commend the Minister, Department, officials, teachers and boards of management across the country on opening the schools. It is a desperately welcome and necessary step forward.

Like the previous speaker, I would have preferred to have had pupils sit the leaving certificate. It would have been possible to do so at the time and would have provided a welcome and necessary confidence in society generally. That decision was not made by the Minister; she inherited the situation as it was rather than she might have liked it to be. I again commend her on having reopened the schools.

I refer to the wearing of masks by second level students. I understand that decision was taken as a result of advice. Did that advice come from NPHET or another body, such as the HSE, or other bodies that provide advice?