Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Some of the Deputy's comments fall outside my remit but I agree wholeheartedly with her comments on how so many young children have regressed and are finding it very difficult. It is very important that young children return to school. The Deputy knows the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State at the Department, Deputy Josepha Madigan, have been working really hard over the past two to three weeks with the educational partners, the schools and unions to try to facilitate a safe return to school. I am thankful we will have more good news in the next few days. Yesterday, for example, it was announced that there is a hope for a phased return to school from 1 March. We hope we can work towards that because we know that when children are in a routine, they have better structure and are better off.

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