Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I make my remarks on schools constructively and on the basis that the Fianna Fáil Party spokesperson, Deputy Thomas Byrne, spoke to the Minister for Education and Skills before Storm Ophelia urging that schools be closed in red alert areas. School boards of management cannot be summoned in the middle of the night or at 6 a.m., as a principal said today. The Government is leaving the decision on whether to close schools up to individual principals. In my view, this is not the optimal way to protect schoolchildren and prevent traffic congestion. We all know how long it took to get to work in Dublin this morning. There are schools at which only 100 pupils turning up and many have less than full numbers. This is a serious issue. When a code red alert warning is issued surely it should automatically dictate the closure of schools. That would be the uniformly correct thing to do.

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