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

The Minister instanced the return to school documents that schools have received. As I demonstrated on Tuesday, and as has been borne out since, there are contradictions between that document and the HSE advice.

On Tuesday, at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Education, the Minister said that she did not expect any significant changes in terms of contact tracing or mitigation measures. That has obviously proven not to be the case. Indeed, what has transpired has gone significantly further than reporting on the matter had previously suggested. We recognise there was an issue that undoubtedly needed to be addressed but it is poor form that the education spokespersons for the Opposition were not briefed on these changes. The Minister was not fully transparent with the education committee about the changes that were on the way. More importantly, it is incredibly important that teaching staff, parents and students are hearing from the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, the rationale behind these changes. More importantly again, they should hear from the Minister what these changes will mean in our schools. I urge the Minister, along with the CMO, to address the nation, particularly the teaching staff and parents, on these changes.

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