Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House today. She is very welcome. I congratulate her on the Trojan work she has done in the few short weeks since her appointment. There was certainly no honeymoon period for the Minister and it is a phenomenal achievement on her part that, four weeks in the position, she has announced one of the biggest packages we have ever seen in the education sector. As a mother, I am delighted and relieved that this announcement has been made. I can now speak to my children with certainty, outline what is going on, help them to reconcile with the new reality, explain the issues to them, reduce their anxieties and try to help them adapt to new terms such as "bubbles" and "pods" and the rules that will flow from them.

I look forward to the communication campaign to assist parents like myself in explaining how things will work to our children. It would be welcome also to get guidelines on when not to send a child to school. I realise that a cough and a high temperature is a stay-at-home issue but I have a boy who has a runny nose from the time the temperature drops in October until the following Easter. I want to know whether a child who has no other symptoms can be sent safely to school. Clear guidelines from the Department of Health would be very beneficial to cut out the guesswork and give teachers and parents some clarity.

Another query I have is about the provisions that will be required for online remote learning for those students who may have to self-isolate or schools that may have to close to assist the schools, the students and the teachers to continue the use of online platforms.

Another issue is the teacher levels in primary schools. A number of schools contacted me with regard to some schools losing teachers because they find they are just below the threshold in terms of keeping their teaching staff numbers.That will result in increasing class sizes and decreasing social distancing. I hope that this will be reconsidered as during this time we should not be taking classrooms out of commission or allowing schools to lose teachers.

The teachers I know have been working very hard in trying to adapt to and foresee some of the changes. They have an incredibly tight deadline but with the funding and the extra supports, I hope it will be a successful time for all. What is expected of teachers is colossal but with these extra supports I believe it can be achieved. We have an incredible body of dedicated teachers. I hope the increased capacity of teachers we are putting in place to deal with the volatile Covid-19 pandemic can be retained and a programme put in place to keep these teachers employed will be introduced so that they can be used to decrease class numbers in the future. I wish all teachers the very best in their efforts to prepare for the opening of schools for 1 million students across the country. Our first day in school of the new term will be a first day like no other. I wish the Minister the very best.