Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 7 July 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (Resumed)

Mr. Alan Mongey:

At post-primary level, it is certainly going to be challenging to implement 1 m and 2 m distancing in every school throughout the country. Every school has its own contextual factors and every school is different. Some schools have classrooms of between 30 sq. m and 47 sq. m. They vary and once we have clarity on what social distancing is acceptable and safe, we will have a better understanding of what we are capable of doing. Every school leader is actively working to ensure we get every student returned to school in a safe and secure environment, as long as we can put those mitigation measures in place.