Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and all of our witnesses today. It is a sombre exercise listening to the facts relating to the impact of Covid-19 on children. Even though children were probably spared the worst ravages of the illness and this pandemic in respect of mortality and sickness, they were not spared the disruption of their lives as it had a very significant impact on children. I can only imagine what kind of fear there was with the onset of the pandemic. Most adults when they heard what was coming must have experienced a fear factor and that would have seeped down to many children and disrupted their lives incalculably in some ways.

There is a legacy from the pandemic in what it has done to children and it is important to address those issues as quickly as possible. In practical terms, what legacy issues can both agencies address in respect of the disruption that the pandemic has caused, in particular, for children?