Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for providing an update on the July provision for children with special needs. It means an awful lot to parents and children to be able to plan, so we welcome the further detail on that.

I wish to refer to another category of parents and children with vulnerabilities. A particular case of which I am aware relates to a lady who has a baby with cystic fibrosis. She is a teacher expecting to return from maternity leave to school in the autumn. Clearly, she is now in a different position in light of her immunosuppressed child and how going into a classroom will impact on her. I ask the Minister to give consideration to parents of immunosuppressed children who are coming back as teachers in the course of his deliberations about how schools will be reopened.

The Minister mentioned that he was speaking with Gavin Williamson. I raise the issue of leaving certificate students who have UCAS offers for universities in the United Kingdom and how that matter will be handled. In the context of higher education, the universities in general and the impact of the closure of hospitals on clinical research trials, we are losing some of our best postdoctoral research students to universities and hospitals elsewhere. That to which I refer is a consequence of what is happening. I flag this because it will be an ongoing issue for universities.

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