Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise several issues. I have received a series of calls and emails in recent days from teachers in the main. The message was the same in all of the correspondence I received. The conditions in which they are working and in which our children are attending school are totally unacceptable. There are stories of windows being left open with the heating turned up to the last but the temperature in the classroom reading just 6°C. I am sure other colleagues in the Chamber are also hearing this. Searching clothing shops for outdoor clothing with a high protective body warmth content is the norm for many teachers in order for them to teach indoors. All the time our children, particularly our younger children, are trying to learn to read and write. In some cases they are unable to hold a pen or pencil due to the cold conditions. Following these worrying contacts, I tuned into the six o'clock RTÉ news yesterday to listen to Professor Orla Hegarty, who said she believed that all schools should be given HEPA filters. Ms Hegarty is an assistant professor of architecture in University College Dublin and a former member of the special National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, group on ventilation. She stated that if we can control the conditions of infected air, which can be done by measuring it in a building, we can drastically reduce transmissions. She went on to say that if a classroom manages its ventilation and filtration, we can make every school low-risk. The Department of Education tells schools that HEPA filters are available where needed. The problem, schools tell me and as was mentioned in the RTÉ report, is that the process of applying for the HEPA filters and undergoing a risk assessment is too slow. We need to take care of our children. We need to take the red tape out of this process. We are in the middle of a crisis that is affecting both our children and, indeed, our teachers.

The second item I want to raise with the Leader is colour blindness and the case of an apprenticeship for a young person from my home town of Athy, County Kildare. The young person has found a job they enjoy. More important, they have an employer who values them and their work and wants that young person to begin an apprenticeship. The problem is the course involves a colour blindness test that, unfortunately, this young person has failed. However, with corrective lenses they would pass this test every time. I have tried to raise this with the two different Departments with responsibility for education but continue to be passed from one office to another. It seems to me, at a time when we need more and more apprenticeships, we are stopping this young person from following their dream because of an outdated test.