Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On that I agree 100% and I will certainly do that. I will probably be meeting them again this Friday as part of our steering group. The reading week or mid-term break - it is called different things in different institutions - is an important moment to recalibrate and take stock. I understand that is what many institutions intend to do. Trinity College Dublin, which I mentioned as an example, will take one approach before reading week and another, perhaps more liberal approach, after.

I would say to all institutions that we have seen very successful outcomes when students have been back on campus. I hope that can build confidence as well. We have to be respectful, as the Deputy is suggesting, of the health and well-being of students and staff and of public health advice. The fact is that all the institutions are different shapes and sizes, with different infrastructures and different levels of movement but I am very confident that there will be even more on-site activity. I would make the point that there is a 420% increase in the number of students on campus this October compared with last October, but we are not complacent on this. We are watching on a daily basis.

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