Mr. Páiric Clerkin:

I thank the Deputy. That will certainly be a focus for us in our primary schools. When we get children back in classrooms in late August and early September, we want to ensure we can put all of the supports that are required in place in the classrooms. One of the issues on which we have asked for more discussion to ensure that it is implemented successfully is around support for our more vulnerable children and children with additional needs. We are developing plans ourselves to ensure that in-class support can continue and can be developed and implemented successfully to give maximum support to the children who will need that additional support. That will be a focus of our work over the coming weeks. I expect in most situations that it will be in-class support. It will be about minimising the opportunity for any cross-contamination or any virus entering schools. We will minimise the number of classrooms that any teacher will work in but that works very successfully in schools and has worked. Such in-class support has been promoted over the past number of years.

I would like to comment on the Deputy's point about SNAs. They are a crucial support in schools and to our children with special educational needs and we must ensure that they have that support on a daily basis. I just want to re-emphasise the importance of having the availability of substitute SNAs, which are a vital support to us. One of the barriers we face is the vetting issue. This issue needs to be sorted, probably through legislation. We need, as is the case with teachers, a centralized vetting service through the Teaching Council. We need a centralized vetting service for our SNAs so that they can be made available to schools that may require them at short notice. That is a barrier our schools are facing a moment and one which we need to address.