Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept that the Minister's acknowledgement in that regard. I appreciate that.

The Minister has issued guidelines to schools on mask wearing, which have caused significant upset among parents. Leaving aside the children who have particular difficulties, for example, children with a hearing difficulty who are required to lip-read for whom mask wearing obviously creates a problem, on the whole, masks make sense. It is regrettable, however, that the Department essentially issued an ultimatum to schools that expects principals and teachers to act like gardaí in the classroom by enforcing the rules. Perhaps a more hand-in-hand approach would have been more conducive to getting this done. Issuing a guideline or guidance for schools would have been more helpful. At this stage, this has been done and it may be something that cannot be rolled back on. People want to acquiesce, help and do the right thing and will do so when they are given guidance. Rather than putting teachers in a position where they have to be the police, if you like, in the classroom, it would be better to do as I outlined.

Reference was made to the HEPA filters. Given the amount of money the State is spending on mitigation measures in respect of Covid-19, be it on the EWSS, which was in the news this week, or any of the other measures that are in place, if HEPA filters help by safeguarding children in the classrooms and putting parents' and teachers' minds at ease, it is worth spending money on them. I ask the Minister to consider that. While I am here, I will mention three other things that I have addressed with the Minister before. The first is in respect of Gaelscoil Laighean. Tá an Gaelscoil seo i mo cheantar féin i nGráinseach an Déin i nDún Laoghaire agus tá sí i suíomh nach bhfuil sách mór di. The school is in a site in Dean’s Grange at the moment that is not big enough. It is a temporary site. There was controversy before where the Department was proposing to move it to an unsuitable site in Dún Laoghaire and now is under consideration-----