Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept the constructive nature of the Deputy's contribution, but I do not accept the premise on which he has based his question. I believe the Minister, Deputy Foley, has successfully led the reopening of schools in September to the Christmas period, and did so in partnership with management bodies, the teacher unions, the unions of special needs assistants, the representative body of students, and all of the stakeholders in education. It worked very well. There was a strong underpinning of that by the public health advice from the Health Service Executive dealing with the many anxieties various school communities had. It must be said that 75% of all schools in the country did not need to avail of public health support during that period. That said, it must be acknowledged that there is a very high level of community transmission right now and we are in a different phase of this pandemic in that regard.

It is not fair to say there has been no consultation. There has been extensive consultation between the Minister, Department officials, the unions and the representative bodies. Last week, various spokespersons were of the view that we would be in a position to open schools on 21 January. This was said publicly by some of the union representatives. Comments have been made about the Minister, which do not stack up, in terms of this being a rushed decision. It was not. What emerged on Friday was a shared agreement on the guidance framework.

If we reflect on the webinar, with perhaps 16,000 people participating, what does it show? It illustrates the genuine anxiety out there among quite a number of the workforce, and we must take that on board. It has filtered its way through to the representative organisations as well and a reassessment from their perspective and a recalibration of their approach.

I accept that we need to go forward on a shared basis. The Minister for Education will lead that with her Department and continue the engagement. I know that today the Minister, Deputy Foley, is meeting many of the groups representing the children with special needs and their families. I take the Deputy's point that we must not allow divisive fallout from this involving those who provide education services and look after children, including various interest groups. We must stand back from that. One of the most effective things we can do now, given my observations, is for all of us to do as much as we can collectively to get down community transmission. We are on the right pathway that way and in the next while, it might give us an opportunity to re-engage effectively and get the outcome that everybody in the House desires.

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