Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is like closing time. I have a short window here. The Deputy is right. Schools need to know the picture. That is why I will bring a memo to Cabinet next Friday with that picture, not just for schools reopening in late August and early September but in regard to children with special educational needs and disadvantage. I know there is a big debate about the 2 m and 1 m restrictions and all of that. We all live in the real world in terms of what a junior or senior infants class looks like. If we expect children in junior or senior infants or first or second class to look at the societal parameters we have laid down, we need to look at the science around students. We already know that those aged under 13 do not have to wear PPE gear. I do not want to see PPE gear in secondary schools, but I am not a public health official. That is my personal opinion and what I would like to see. I have seen photographs from South Korea, where there are pods in canteens and so on. I will not say what it was like, but it was a very difficult thing to process.

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