Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of what happens when a member of a school community, be it a pupil or staff member, tests positive for Covid-19. I will give an example of what happened in a school in my constituency, for illustrative purposes only because it is at national issue. A member of that particular school community tested positive. The person has other family members in the school. It took five days from contacting the doctor to getting the results of the test. In the meantime, all members of the family self-isolated from the time the doctor referred the person for the test.

The test result was communicated to the principal the next morning and the principal immediately contacted the HSE. Despite the best efforts of the principal, it took five hours, in other words the rest of the school day, for the HSE to respond. In the meantime, the principal, naturally, was anxious and he spoke to his staff members and discussed what they would do. When he received a call that evening from the HSE he was assured that public health was dealing with the case. At this point, it was one week since the person developed symptoms. He was told by the HSE that he should not inform parents and that he should not have informed his staff. He was absolutely taken aback but the HSE insisted this was the advice. He then asked about a template letter for parents. Earlier, we spoke about the possibility of a helpline. The principal contacted the INTO and received some assistance from it. In the meantime, the rumours started. He did not inform parents because he had been told not to but, as the Taoiseach can imagine, it was the talk of the parish. The next day, people contacted the local radio station, which is what people do when they are looking for information. The story was all over the place. The principal, on the back foot, had to go on local radio and explain his actions.

I know each situation is different, and the Minister for Education and Skills told us that public health takes over, but surely good, clear information and trust are crucial in these situations. A basic template letter, helpline or whatever would really have helped. If parents had received some communication from the school ensuring full anonymity and abiding by the general data protection regulation, GDPR, it would have made a real difference. Is there any possibility of having a template letter or a national approach to dealing with cases such as this so principals are not left in the position that they just do not know how to respond?

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