Mr. Michael Gillespie:

Like the wider economy, we do not want people to run out of sick leave because they have had to change the way they deal with things, and then maybe end up feeling they have to come to work. As Mr. Boyle said earlier, sick leave entitlements were quartered during the last recession and that means sick leave is precious. We have many people who are worried and anxious and are using ordinary sick leave rather than Covid, and burning it because of this anxiety and nervousness. That is especially the case when they see the after-effects of Covid. Even those who are categorised as high risk or lower than high risk are nervous about returning to the classroom. Classrooms are crowded places.

We have young adults in second level. The media have been reporting recently, and the figures seem to back this up, that the number of people testing positive in the younger age group is rising rapidly. These reports are creating anxiety which I believe will force staff to use sick leave. We will then have the problem we outlined earlier because we do not have staff to support or replace these teachers and to meet the educational needs of students in schools. In second level, it is certainly an issue with respect to the subject-specific teachers who are needed if a teacher goes out on sick leave. If the only physics teacher in a school goes out sick, it will not be possible to get a replacement. That is absolutely certain.