'I'm not sending my child to school to watch movies, eat popcorn and catch Covid'

One school principal has around 70% of his pupils at his school today. File photo

A school principal has said attendance at his school was roughly around 70% today as many parents decided to keep their children home amidst fears over the highly transmissible Omnicron variant.

When asked about school attendance levels, Simon Lewis, Principal of Carlow Educate Together, said: “My favourite comment on that came not from a health expert but from a parent. She basically said she wasn’t going to be sending her child to school to be watching movies, eating popcorn and catching Covid. I think that kind of sums it up really.”