Dáil debates

Thursday, 18 November 2021

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:10 pm

Photo of Aodhán Ó RíordáinAodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We appreciate the Minister's engagement, but he will appreciate that if the school system collapses and schools have to close, which we absolutely do not want to happen, society will not be able to function. That would be profoundly damaging for children and young people, but society will not be able to function. If schools have to close, a lot of questions will be asked about the leaving certificate. None of us wants to go return to that cycle of last January and February in terms of the level of anxiety in Irish society.

The Minister answered my question on antigen testing. I might not like his answer, be he answered it. He has also given me an answer on booster vaccines. I impress on him again that if the school system is that important to the Government, as I believe it is, surely the focus should be on keeping our SNAs and our teachers and our school communities functioning and our school system open. Even as a gesture of solidarity with that sector, who are listening to the "schools are safe" mantra from the Government which grates on them, a prioritisation of our school sector - the Labour Party will be unpopular for suggesting it because other front-line workers will suggest they are more deserving - if we feel education is that important, as we do, and a reassessment of the booster roll-out for those front-line workers in our education system is something the Government should reconsider.

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