Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I can appreciate the frustration out there. The Minister said, in her contribution, that the decision to introduce new measures is not one that has been taken lightly. I recognise that it presents yet another challenge for students and their schools. I have an issue with the fact that children were sent back to school with fewer mitigation measures in place, for example, the lack of filtration devices and the fact that contact tracing was ended. We know that this led to 12-year-olds having one of the highest incidence of Covid-19. For once, we were being told by Government that schools were safe. Last week, almost overnight, schools went from being safe places where contact tracing was not needed, to places where children needed to wear masks to keep safe. I can appreciate the frustration out there from parents, teachers and young people.

I also want to express my disappointment about how the guidance was released. At the time, there was no indication about when exactly the requirement to wear a mask would come into force. A few hours before that, mask-wearing for those aged under nine was not going to be mandatory, then it seemed that schools were being asked to enforce a mask-wearing policy. Senator Dolan talked about a team effort being required. It has been said many times before. I fully agree with that. I fear that the guidance was issued in a confrontational way, the idea being that schools would be policing a hardline policy when there might not be co-operation from people. I have a concern about that.

We also know that there will need to be exemptions to mask-wearing requirements. Masks create particular problems for children with special educational needs or sensory issues and for those who are hard of hearing.They can be placed in a minority. We must all ensure that no child is penalised for this, as reflected in the Minister's contribution. It may not always be possible to obtain a medical certificate in the circumstances in question. Ultimately, however, the safety of our schools cannot hinge on mask wearing alone; we need a variety of measures. It is clear that contact tracing and filtration devices are essential. We should restore public health contact-tracing teams for schools.

The Children's Rights Alliance and other organisations have called for clear advice to be issued to schools before any directive from the Government to ensure schools can take account of each child's needs in assessing children's right to an education. What transpired the other night was the opposite of that. We need to be throwing the kitchen sink at this. The safety of schools should not hinge on mask wearing alone. There should be a filtration device for every classroom. Bringing back public health contact-tracing teams in schools will ensure that we can move out of this scenario as quickly as possible.