Ms Cróna Gallagher:

Yes, absolutely. As Ms Hanney has said, we have quite a few students back. All the practical apprentices are back and the lab-based and practical elements of other courses are back. The specialist training programmes, the vulnerable students, all the Youthreach centres and all the literacy services are back in centres with the 2 m social distancing. We have also rented additional premises and taken care of the needed health guidelines to make sure we are complying.

It is important to say that there is a national stakeholder group made up of SOLAS, Education and Training Boards Ireland, the staff representatives, and so on. That group has been very good because we have been able to agree at a national level for the sector what will happen at each level of the restrictions. As we are able to move in a concerted way across the whole sector, every ETB is doing more or less the same thing with regard to who they have back. Obviously there are small differences within that, but by and large we have been able to agree who will come back. There is no doubt that everybody would like to be back. The staff would like everybody to be back. As Ms Hanney has said, the staff have absolutely gone the extra mile on this in keeping in touch with students. It came out in the QQI research that while students feel there are a lot of difficulties, they feel very well supported.