Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It seems the Minister has conveniently forgotten that it was by agreement with the teachers unions and the special needs assistant, SNA, unions that the schools were able to reopen and stayed open for 80 days. The Minister was quick to take all of the credit for reopening schools but when her failure to engage and her inability to listen and respond to the genuine concerns of those working in the schools meant that school reopening had to be postponed, she tried nice and quickly to shift the blame onto teachers and workers in the education system. It is shameful that the Minister tried to scapegoat those workers in the way that she did because it was the Minister and the Department that had let them down.

The Minister is asking teachers and all of those who work in schools to go into work with people who are in the main unmasked. They have done it previously and they continued to do it as case numbers were rising. They want to know is it safe to do it now. There is no comparison between workers in retail - I have heard people try to make this comparison - where mask-wearing can be enforced and those who are working in schools. While I am on the subject, there is no comparison between people who work in schools and those who ran Magdalen laundries and mother and baby institutions and to draw that comparison was both offensive and hurtful to teachers who had been in touch with me and to SNAs, school secretaries and others who work there. I encourage the Minister to have a word with her junior Minister and remind her that language is important and that she should be more careful when choosing her words in future.

Teachers and SNAs say they want to get back to work - that is what they are telling me and everybody else - but they want to do it as soon and as safely as possible. They want to know that their workplaces are safe. They want to hear that a detailed, up-to-date risk assessment has been carried out and they would like to think that the Minister is listening to them.

I want to say a word about my own sister. She is a principal of a delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, school here in Dublin. I have watched her work day in, day out from early in the morning until late at night. She has gone way over and above, as have all of the people working with her. All of the education partners, as the Minister refers to them, have gone over and above because they want the schools to be open. They want the children to be able to come to school but they want to know that it is safe because at the end of the day they have to go home to their families.

I have a few questions. The Minister's attempt to blame education workers is demoralising. Will she stop? The Minister's attempt to pit workers against parents will not work and it is causing further distress and upset to both parents and workers. Will the Minister stop and think? They want to know what the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, is saying today about our schools and the impact of reopening on our overstretched hospital system. They want the Minister to stop merely saying that schools are safe and focus on making schools safe in the current climate with high case numbers. They want to know that those workers who provide not only learning, but in some cases intimate care, to learners who cannot be masked will be vaccinated. When will that happen? They want to hear that children with special education needs will be prioritised and that they will not be held back until the reopening of all of education. I would like the Minister in the few seconds that remain to answer that question my colleague asked her and she did not answer. Could the Minister answer it now?

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