Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

On Monday, children in primary classes from third class to sixth class and fifth year secondary school students will return to in-person learning along with educators who are deemed high risk by Medmark Occupational Healthcare. Reports in the Irish Independentearlier this week showed that one in eight Covid cases were in children and teenagers under 18. Are we confident that we have done enough in terms of mitigation factors to keep those in school buildings safe? I am specifically talking about: ventilation, both natural and mechanical; mask-wearing; and whole-class testing. If cases go up, what are the additional mitigation mechanisms that will be employed to ensure that schools do not close again? We have to move beyond the binary options of school buildings being either open or closed.

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