Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The meat on the bones will very much be determined by public health advice. We are going to come up with a summer programme and present it to health officials in terms of how it will look.

One of the determining features of this process is to have the voices around the table. It was important to have Down's syndrome and autism represented today, as well as the National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education, NABMSE, the management body for special schools. Those organisations came back with many concerns regarding public health. We have many students with complex medical needs and we have to get this right from a health and safety perspective as well. Until we determine what it is going to look like, we will be presenting this proposal to public health officials and asking if we can do it. At the moment, however, we are looking at July or August, or it could be something that might involve some remote learning. We are also going to focus on trying to have some of the programme in centres or schools, but we are still working on that so that it will have not only the confidence of the teaching community but also of the parents.

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