Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I confirm that I am in Leinster House 2000. At the outset, I wish to join others in thanking Dr. Holohan, his colleagues and everyone in NPHET for their stellar work over the past two years. They have all become household names for good reasons. They have been on our televisions every night shepherding the nation through what has been a national crisis. Some people refer to the pandemic as our Second World War. It certainly was a national crisis. We have had two years of bedding into it. Thankfully, heads are now starting to poke up out of the ground again and we are getting back to some degree of normality. I wish to thank the witnesses for all their efforts in that regard.

I wish to ask Dr. Holohan a question, which concerns mask-wearing in schools. I ask him to forgive me if he has answered it already; I have been in and out of meetings. Prior to my election to the Dáil, I was a teacher. Certainly, many second level schools embraced mask-wearing when they reopened. It has been very successful. I know that it continues to be a bit of a struggle in primary schools. I know also that there is strong guidance on mask-wearing at this point; it is not so much a rule. I ask Dr. Holohan to outline the guidance on mask-wearing. When does he anticipate that it will not be a feature of the primary school classroom?