Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will add to colleagues' remarks. I will state it so that it is clearly understood. The Taoiseach raised the issue of schools North and South.

The Taoiseach is right. On one side of the Border schools are closing and on the other they are remaining open. That is not so much due to the vagaries of Sinn Féin policy but to the reality that we have two different sets of public health advice which are in this instance contradictory. Not alone is that a very awkward situation, it is actually dangerous. We need to work harder to ensure the systems are joined up. Of course there is merit to, and a necessity for, a healthy Anglo-Irish relationship and we must ensure that. The real moment the health of that relationship will crystalise is when we no longer have a British border on our island. That relationship is an important one but the Dublin-Belfast relationship is critical to all of this for now. Has the Taoiseach addressed this issue in respect of Covid with Boris Johnson? Has he put it to him directly that it is an imperative and a matter of national importance and interest for us to have a single approach? If so, what was his response?

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