Written answers

Tuesday, 15 December 2020

Department of Education and Skills

Covid-19 Pandemic

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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49. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has met with NPHET regarding the way to manage the return to campus-based learning in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41674/20]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department liaises regularly with colleagues in the Department of Health on the implications of COVID-19 for higher and further education. I am in regular contact with my colleague the Minister for Health. Such close and ongoing cooperation does not take the form of my meeting directly with with the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). My Department has at all times been guided to date by the advice provided by NPHET to government in relation to the protection of public health and how that advice applies to the further and higher education sectoral context.

In September, as Minister, and together with my officials, I met formally with my colleague Minister Donnelly to discuss reopening. A range of contacts have continued in the intervening period.

There is strong and continued engagement between representatives of the Department of Further and Higher Education and the Department of Health in relation to Covid-19 response planning for the further and higher education sector. As part of that engagement, the Department meets and communicates regularly with Department of Health and Chief Medical Officer representatives. The Department has arrangements in place to update the Department of Health on the outcomes of its structured meetings with stakeholders and sectoral representatives, and communicates developments in relation to Covid-19 response planning as it has been impacted by the different levels of restrictions which have been put in place. In recent weeks, my Department has kept the Department of Health fully updated in relation to engagement with the further and higher education sector on planning for the next academic term.

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