Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the presence of the Minister of State in the House and indeed all of the Ministers working in the Department of Health at the moment and their officials for dealing with all the ongoing challenges. The work that is needed is acknowledged not just by me in this House but by the public as well, so I acknowledge that at the outset. I am also conscious of the fact that with language being used this evening in terms of contact tracing, there is a feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task and by the magnitude and scale of the challenges as well.

I put down this question on the back of difficulties expressed to me yesterday morning and over the previous weekend by some school principals. The reason they contacted me was there were communication difficulties in dealing with cases that they were alerted to them on a Friday evening and then going through the process over the weekend. The issue could be summed up in a nutshell by saying it concerns the communication, point of contact, direction and protocol for contact tracing. Since putting down this question yesterday, I am delighted to see that there has been considerable progress made over the past day. The primary level stakeholders and the secondary level stakeholders met with NPHET today as well, and that is really necessary to instil confidence in the leadership within the school communities, because we all know, appreciate and certainly know the value of children and teenagers being back in the school system. Teachers have been very closely monitoring their progress since schools have come back. Parents have noticed progression where regression happened when pupils were absent from school for up to about six months, and it is important we hold on to that progress.

To summarise, what I am raising is something that has already been enacted by the people concerned. I am very well aware of demands on the system and the contact tracing system, but it is really important and incumbent on all of us to ensure whatever resources and strengthening of the existing system that can be done should be done. That focus, especially with the participation of NPHET officials at the stakeholders meeting, was a positive step forward today.

I acknowledge the role played by officials within the Department of Education and Skills. They have been liaising quite closely with Department of Health officials for a long time, going back to last March and there is constant communication and constant engagement in ensuring that they try to get things right. I know from my own communication with them and from my own relationship with them in my previous role that the different officials work morning, noon and night to try to get this challenge under control. We are all on the same hymn sheet, whether it is parents, teachers or principals, to ensure the progress that has been made in having children and teenagers back in school stays on track to ensure we continue with the primary motivation of educating our young people.

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