Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept what the Deputy has said in that this is a public health measure which he welcomes and accepts. He also said that he accepts it is a requirement and that it is fine. I accept that in good faith. It is a public health measure. The Chief Medical Officer and deputy Chief Medical Officer have expressed to the Government their deep concern about the very rapid increase in the incidence of Covid in five-year-olds to 11-year-olds and, critically, the parents of those children as well. As part of the general measures to reduce community transmission and the volume of incidences in the community, this is now a measure they recommend. It is also to protect education and our schools.

Of course, the idea of children wearing masks is not new. The Deputy is correct in saying there are developmental differences between nine-year-olds and 13-year-olds, 14-year-olds and 15-year-olds. Nonetheless, mask wearing has been a requirement for over 13-year-olds and has not generated any huge issues. There may have been a legal case or two taken that did not hold up. I do not have the details of that to hand, but I can check that and come back to the Deputy in respect of what happened at post-primary level. Suffice to say that mask wearing has been a requirement at post-primary level for quite some time and has operated on the ground. I would also add that there are clear directions in terms of mixed classes as to what is to happen. In terms of the guidelines, as ever in education, school management know and will engage with their community and will be attentive to the needs of students and individual students. Obviously, for special needs children, there will not be a requirement if it is not suitable nor should there be. The wearing of masks could be difficult and challenging for children with special needs and for children that may have issues with masks. There has to a be common sense, practical approach to this and I think in the main, there will be.

Overall, we have to look at this as a collective. There has to be a societal response. That is how we have got through this pandemic up to now. Where there are high incidence rates in the community, we have to take a community-wide approach to reduce the level of incidence and, for example, that is the case with vaccinations. We now have 93.5% of those over 18 vaccinated. Yet, one of the problems when one looks at what is happening in hospitals, 48% of Covid hospitalisationa are unvaccinated; 50% in ICU are unvaccinated; and 2% are partially vaccinated. One can see the huge disparity. The point I am making is that the community-based response is crucial and it also applies to mask wearing. It is challenging and I appreciate that. It is not something I am entirely 100% comfortable with as a person, a parent and as a former teacher. I am very much alive to the different situations that can apply in different schools, localities, backgrounds and so on. We have to be sensitive to all that.

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