The Taoiseach will have received correspondence in recent days from survivors of the mother and baby homes and their relatives in Bessborough, County Cork, many of whom are very concerned, particularly in light of the fact that the report has not been published, about the fact that there are plans to proceed with, or applications for planning on, a site that has not been fully investigated. Many survivors are concerned that relatives of theirs may be buried around the site. It has not been investigated. Is the Taoi…

It has become very clear from the science in recent months that ventilation is one of the key factors in tackling Covid-19. At this time of year, with the Irish winter, the cold is becoming very significant. That is not as much of an issue for some modern schools and school buildings as it is for schools with older buildings. Principals are having to make difficult choices with limited or in some instances no guidance on how to manage this matter. It puts pressure on heating bills and leads to tough decisions about…

That is an interesting reply and there is much in it to consider. I would make one point, of which I am sure the Minister is very aware as principals certainly raise it with me. I am aware of the updated guidance but it is still the case that windows must be open, although the guidance states the times and extent to which that should be done. Older buildings, examples of which the Minister can think herself, such as those in Christian Brothers schools, were built in the 1950s and 1960s and were not designed for the…

The Minister said that an air monitor does not increase the temperature of a room but only shows when the windows need to be open. By extension, it also shows when the windows do not need to be open, which would be very useful to many schools that are trying to manage the situation and ensure the welfare of the children in their care, by protecting them from Covid and other types of illness. I will take it from her answer that the Minister is not ruling such measures out but I ask her to go back to the HPSC and to …

It is very positive that additional ASD units are being opened in schools across the State. Undoubtedly, we need many more. The demand for units is constantly growing. However, my question focuses on the fact that while those units fulfil a very important role, they are not suitable for everyone. I am concerned that we are not building enough special schools and that there may be some resistance to these schools, not from the Minister of State but from others. What are the Minister of State's plans in this area?

I agree with every word of that response but the key part that we need to drill into is the part that says where it is assessed that it is not possible or suitable for a child to be educated in such a unit and that they have a greater or different need. Generally, that relates to special schools. There is concern among those involved in special schools and in units that there is resistance to the opening of additional special schools. My experience from a number of areas, but I speak particularly of my own constitu…

I am aware of much of that. Some positive things are happening in the special education sphere in Cork albeit that it is coming from one of the lowest bases. It is in a very challenging place even compared with other parts of the country. The Minister of State mentioned greenfield sites. Some special schools are in buildings that are just not fit for purpose. They need a greenfield site just to accommodate the children in the schools now. There has been a lot of talk about the New Brunswick model and the full integ…

As the Minister knows, Sinn Féin supports keeping the virus out of schools and safely keeping them open. This necessarily means swiftly dealing with Covid-19 cases as soon as they arise within schools. It is good to know that there are school-specific contact teams, but we need more clarity on the criteria by which they will work. A lot of school staff and students have been in touch with me. They are concerned that they were not deemed close contacts though it seemed self-evident that they were. These people need …

I am glad to see the Minister engage with this - other Ministers would have taken the attitude that it was nothing to do with them - but I would like to see her engage with it more. She will be very aware that one of the key trade unions in the sector has made this a point on which it is engaging with the Department and the HSE on potential industrial action, which is a very serious thing we all want to avoid, I am sure. The issue of criteria is one of the key points, so if we accept that that is static and is not …

Weekly meetings are valuable but there needs to be progress as well. One of the issues is communication. Part of this is the communication at a local level between the HSE and the schools. There are schools the Minister will know that have expressed frustration about that. In some instances it has worked perfectly and in other instances it has not worked so well, and I am sure she will be aware of some of those instances. There is a balance to be struck here, but there is scope under regulation 11 of the Infectious…

I have two questions concerning certain things that are happening at this time. The first relates to the new model for the allocation of special needs assistants. My experience is that where schools experience a sudden relative increase in the number of children with identified special needs in a classroom, the model is not responsive enough. It was previously the case that if a child with autism joined a class, he or she would be guaranteed to be assigned an SNA. That does not seem to be the case at the moment. In…

I am not sure whether the Minister or the Minister of State will reply to this question. I have a specific case in mind, but it applies to the broad issue of school staff and high risk versus very high risk. As I have pointed out previously, very high risk is a very high threshold and many people who are severely immunocompromised with conditions such as leukemia and others are deemed high risk. They are concerned. In some instances, schools want to offer them more flexibility, but they are not permitted to do so a…

The same principles apply, so I will take whatever reply the Minister of State has.

I will speak first about the case I have in mind, although anonymously with regard to the brass tacks. This SNA is high risk. I would deem the person to be very high risk in the ordinary meaning of the words, but the person has not met that threshold with Medmark Occupational Healthcare. The person's doctor, principal and the board of management agree that it is not safe for the person to return to school. However, due to the process in place, the person must go in every day and potentially risk the person's health…

I am glad the Minister of State referred to PPE. It is still my view that all SNAs should be provided with the medical-grade masks mentioned by the Minister of State. For the vast majority of SNAs, the instances in which they will be moving to within 2 m of children or outside it occur very frequently throughout the day. It is the easiest and most sensible thing to do. The problem with the Medmark Occupational Healthcare process and the appeal, and I understand that very few have been successful on appeal, is that …

May I ask how much time I have so that I can adjust my comments accordingly?

I will try not to speak for too long. The Minister of State has provided the World Health Organization's definition of health, which is not simply the absence of disease or a condition. Whatever about the World Health Organization's definition, the reality in our communities and in our health service is that there is not parity of esteem at this point in time. We have to recognise that a societal challenge still exists. Attitudes towards mental health and mental illness have significantly improved in recent years b…

I thank the Minister for being here to take this Topical Issue matter. She will be aware of the burden falling on principals at the moment and of the additional pressures Covid has put on them right across the board, in primary schools, post-primary schools, special schools and so on. Consider those principals who are managing everything connected to Covid, managing the ordinary running of the school, managing the running of ASD units and also teaching a class or perhaps teaching more than one class. There are 83 t…

I appreciate what the Minister said but I hoped there might be something more positive. Perhaps in her response she might give an indication of that. I raise this issue in a spirit of trying to see if we can find a solution to it. It is not a huge cohort of schools but where an issue arises in a unit or in terms of the significant number of staff who are dependent on the principal, it is usually the mainstream class, which the principal teaches, that loses out on account of this. Indeed, the whole school loses out.…

During the term of the previous Dáil, I was very anxious to push the Cork metropolitan area transport strategy, particularly the light rail element. I was glad that it was included in the strategy in the end. We are all very aware that it will not happen overnight, although I would like it to happen sooner than is scheduled. In the meantime, is there scope for bus rapid transit along those corridors? I think of the Glider system in Belfast. This is a very eye-catching and attractive system which could potentially b…