Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate her on her appointment. I do not in any way underestimate the scale of the task she faces and I wish her well in her efforts in this vitally important area. Her success is in everybody's interests.

The meetings of the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response from which I and other attendees have got the most satisfaction have been those pertaining to education, particularly where the witnesses were from interest groups which work with young people who have undergone the greatest upheaval in their education experience since April. One of the starkest discussions for me was when we heard yesterday from representatives of Inclusion Ireland who spoke about the experience of children with intellectual disabilities throughout the Covid period. They talked about how the children have regressed and how it is absolutely essential for them to be supported. I do not want to say that they need support to "catch up" but they do need help to get back to where they were before the Covid crisis.

There was a huge contrast in the presentations at yesterday's meeting where as well as representatives from Inclusion Ireland, we also heard from the National Parents Council Primary and the National Parents Council Post Primary. All three organisations have recently conducted a survey of their members. The two parent councils reported that there was a degree of satisfaction with the reopening of schools and that parents felt it was going as well as it possibly could, with the caveat that we are only at the beginning of the process. However, the parents of children with intellectual disabilities who were surveyed by Inclusion Ireland reported being highly dissatisfied with their children's experience throughout the education system. It would not be fair for me to say that this is anybody's fault but it absolutely is the responsibility of all of us to deal with it. I know the Minister of State met representatives of Inclusion Ireland last week. I ask her to take on board all the suggestions they have made, with particular regard to their finding that 11% of members surveyed were very clear in their view that remote learning was not suitable for their child. We must make accommodations for those children because it is not acceptable that any child should be left behind during this pandemic period.

Other speakers referred to SNAs and I have a very specific issue to raise in this regard concerning the guidelines for school staff in regard to PPE and medical masks. This guidance is of particular relevance for SNAs, who work in close proximity with children. The current guidelines are far too vague. The document states that principals "should consider" providing medical masks for staff. The words "should consider" are not acceptable. That vagueness is creating an ambiguity which means that some SNAs are being left without the appropriate medical equipment. Those guidelines should be shored up and there should be no doubt that all SNAs must be able to avail of the appropriate medical-standard masks in their interactions with students. That is absolutely essential and a basic show of respect for the special needs staff who do an incredible job. There are other considerations with regard to SNAs in terms of how we support the professionalisation of the sector but I will return to that on another day.

The final issue I wish to raise concerns a family in my constituency. It is a rarity for me to come into the Dáil Chamber and talk about a constituency issue but I am doing so again this evening after having raised it yesterday with the Minister and again earlier today with departmental officials. The mother of the family in question suffers from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which is a very rare blood cancer, and is in the extremely high-risk category for Covid. There are two teenage children in the family, one of whom goes to a boys' secondary school and the other to a girls' secondary school. The parents have been unable to send the children to school for the fear of what would happen should the virus enter either of their schools and be brought into the family home. The Department has told the family that it is the responsibility of the school management board to resolve this matter. The board has rightly responded that it does not have the medical expertise to deal with the situation, nor has it been given any appropriate guidelines from the Department on how to cater for the very specific concerns, worries and terrors of this family.

When I raised the matter with the departmental officials, they noted that they are operating under the HSE and NPHET guidelines which say that all children, even those with underlying health conditions or with a family member with such a condition, should go back to school because of the need for socialisation and improved mental health support. That is an understandable position to take and I would accept it for many students across the board. However, it is not acceptable in the case of this particular family, who are not on their own in being in such a difficult situation. The Department must be malleable in its guidance where there are children or family members at extreme risk. I could not ask any teenager to go to school with the worry that he or she might bring home a virus that could have fatal consequences for a family member. It is absolutely incumbent upon the Department of Education and Skills not to wash its hands of this family's situation and say that it can only follow public health advice. We should all be taking advice from the HSE but we should also recognise that there are particular conditions in respect of which the evidence is just not there to support a return to school. Schools closed their doors in March and we do not have enough medical evidence to conclude, as was suggested to me today, that there is a very low risk of transmission from children to adults. In the case to which I referred, we are talking about teenagers who are soon to be young adults. The evidence is not there to justify asking that family to play Russian roulette with their health. Their situation must be addressed.

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