Urgent Need For Road Map On Schools Reopening

Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has said that there is an urgent need for a roadmap for the return of children to schools, and for steps to be taken to protect teachers in their place of work.

An Teachta Tóibín:

“The continued closure of schools has had an enormous toll on students, parents, and teachers alike. It is in may ways the largest unquantifiable impact of Covid. It is a wholescale emergency and it needs to be dealt with urgently”.

“Leaving cert students have been in perpetual uncertainty all year, feeling powerless to influence the situation. Children with special needs have been denied social contact and their education which has in turn led to their regression. Parents have been trying to home school their children and balance their work demands. Most parents will admit that they are not qualified or cut out to Home School. Children’s development is being stunted and the mental health of parents and children is being hammered”.

“Teachers are fearful of being rushed back to school without the necessary safeguards – putting their loved ones at risk. The government needs to step up now and prove that their protection will be implemented.”

“This needs to be treated with the urgency it deserves. We knew this could be an issue in the first wave of the pandemic. We began asking the Department of Education last year to put contingencies in place if the 2020/2021 academic year was disrupted by Covid-19. We asked for contingencies to be put in place for then fifth years who would enter their final year plagued with uncertainty. We highlighted the early warning signs of regression in children with additional needs present in the Childcare sector. The reactionary and indecisive approach of the government since September indicates these warnings fell on deaf ears.”

The Irish political system is radically broken

In Ireland the vast majority of elected representatives put a finger in the air to check which way the political wind is blowing. They have one eye on their leaders – seeking brownie points – and another eye keeping their seat safe. If elected reps shut up and do as they’re told, they are promoted; if they stand up for what they believe in, they are demoted. No wonder we have the political class we have. No wonder one point one billion euro is being buried in a hole under the National Children’s Hospital and that Stormont is in stalemate.

Throughout Ireland, many people are now afraid to say what they feel, many are afraid to respectfully engage on a range of different topics. Many feel there is a new censorship and a new political correctness in Ireland, that opposition to the establishment is being deleted.

Respectful opposition is not the enemy. Respectful opposition is a critical element of a functional democracy. Aontú will have the backbone to stand up, without fear, for you.