Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Weekly meetings are valuable but there needs to be progress as well. One of the issues is communication. Part of this is the communication at a local level between the HSE and the schools. There are schools the Minister will know that have expressed frustration about that. In some instances it has worked perfectly and in other instances it has not worked so well, and I am sure she will be aware of some of those instances. There is a balance to be struck here, but there is scope under regulation 11 of the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 and Article 9 of the GDPR. In light of the overarching objective of public health, I think there is discretion for better communication between the HSE and the school. I think this would help in certain cases. However, there is also to some extent on a global level, in the overall picture, not enough communication, and the Minister has a bit more to contribute here. It was welcome to see her on the After School Hub, but I wrote to her a few months ago about some of the weekly briefings. We need more communication from the centre on the overall picture because when that is not there, there is a vacuum, and in that vacuum there exists speculation. I am sure the Minister will be aware of much of this. We need to nip this in the bud.

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