Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

On one hand, the Government is calling on parents to reduce children's social and human interaction and, on the other hand, it has refused to provide for timely PCR tests, free antigen tests or any contact tracing at all in the childcare and early learning sectors. Staff are currently waiting for five days for PCR tests, which is leading to wholesale absences in that sector. They are still forced to buy the antigen tests for around €8 because the discount stores are selling out within 20 or 30 minutes at the price of €3. There is no contact tracing at all in the sector, which means that the illness is spreading in the sector. Some parents are so desperate to go to work that they are sending their kids in with Calpol and hoping for the best. This is incredible. Other parents are being told they cannot send in their children. As a result, they are refusing to pay the sector and the sector in some cases is closing, which is causing massive stress and strain in the sector. I am told that the sector is threatening to walk out at the moment, such is the strain.

See this speech in context