Foley won't seek derogation to let isolating teachers return to work sooner

Public health officials raised no impediment to the plan, which had come under scrutiny in recent days amid fears of the prospect of widescale absences caused by the Omicron variant

One million schoolchildren will return to the classroom on Thursday, despite fears raised by teacher unions about safety for students and staff.

Public health officials raised no impediment to the plan, which had come under scrutiny in recent days amid fears of the prospect of widescale absences caused by the Omicron variant.

In announcing some 21,302 new cases of Covid-19 last night, chief medical officer Tony Holohan warned it is “inevitable” that children will become infected, given the prevalence of Covid-19 in the community across all age groups, but he concluded that schools are “a lower risk environment”. He also said the majority of children who are infected experience a mild form of this disease.

Education Minister Norma Foley rejected concerns from the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and calls to stagger the return of schools, confirming the decision to reopen as planned.

While schools will reopen, Ms Foley accepted that individual classes could be sent home due to a shortage of teachers, whether as a result of testing positive for the virus or as a close contact, in the coming days and weeks.

The focus is on supporting schools. “This is not about closing schools, but there may be situations where individual classes are sent home. Staffing at primary level is an issue,” said a source.

Ms Foley has said that she will not be pursuing derogation measures for teachers.

She said she wanted to see “a hierarchy of priority” of children to remain in school including special needs pupils, younger children for whom remote learning would be difficult and exam students.

Responding to principals discussing how stretched they are regarding staff, Ms Foley told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that she accepted that the coming weeks "will not be without its challenges".

Education Minister Norma Foley rejected concerns from the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and calls to stagger the return of schools, confirming the decision to reopen as planned.

The Education Minister said they “have learned” throughout the pandemic that children are best served with in-person learning.

“The reality is that every day, particularly for the next couple of weeks, will bring challenges to school management and school leadership.” 

Ms Foley said that the Department will work with schools on the ground to ensure the maximum number of students will get in-person education.

When asked about who makes the decision to send a class home if Covid necessitates that, Ms Foley said that the Department and the Inspectorate will work with the schools to come to a decision.

“Schools know their own situation on the ground,” she said, but they can use the resources of the Department to find a solution.

When asked if derogation measures would be introduced for teachers so they could return to work sooner, Ms Foley said emphatically that she was “not pursuing that.”

The Education Minister could not say when schools would get medical-grade face masks. She said infection prevention and control measures have been "consistently reviewed throughout the pandemic". 

Ms Foley said she had a meeting with public health and they told the Department that they are satisfied with the mitigation measures that are in place. 

She said Public Health are of a view that the measures in place are sufficient, adding that they will look at the issue of the masks again. 

Ms Foley denied that school principals were being asked to carry out contact tracing. They had to text or call the parents of any children in a pod if one was identified as being positive. After that it was up to the parents. 

“I trust parents.” 

The Education Minister could not say when schools would get medical-grade face masks. She said infection prevention and control measures have been "consistently reviewed throughout the pandemic". 

Operating in a pandemic it was a remarkable achievement that schools would reopen. This was possible because of the goodwill and generosity of school communities, she said.

The Government is looking at utilising up to 4,000 student teachers who are still available until February in order to plug gaps.

John Boyle, the general secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), said they could have up to 8,000 members missing as he called on the Government to “look again” at reintroducing contact tracing in primary schools.

“I am beseeching the Government,” he told Morning Ireland. 

“It worked well while we had it. That’s my big ask. That’s what we need if we want gold standard teaching.” 

Mr Boyle said that he was “more upbeat” about the return to school on Thursday following meetings with public health authorities.

Prior to Christmas, at a “very terse” meeting on December 22 “public health actually apologised for their failures and from then on there has been work done over Christmas to be fair," he said.

“Public health are coming back to help primary, to support principals and teachers who were really beleaguered before Christmas. There will be people in each HSE area basically designated to help primary principals.

“The Inspectorate are coming back on board to a greater degree and even though parents will be absolutely thrilled that schools are reopening tomorrow there is a big caution around all of this. We’re probably going to have 7,000 to 8,000 members missing.” 

For the first term when there was no contact tracing in primary schools there had been no data coming in, he added. At the meeting with public health on Tuesday “a huge amount of data” had been presented that showed children “are not driving this pandemic.” 

At a meeting between the Government and unions yesterday, HSE chief clinical officer Colm Henry said there was no public health rationale to delaying the reopening of schools.

The decision comes as supplies of antigen tests are running out across the country, with demand outstripping supply.

All the main suppliers of antigen tests to pharmacies are out of stock, said Jim Curran, director of strategy and operations at the Irish Pharmacy Union.

Most of these suppliers are expected to be restocked this week or early next week, he added.

At a meeting of the three Government leaders — Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan — it was agreed to dismiss concerns from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on indoor gatherings and maintain the guidance that four families can gather.

No further Covid-19 restrictions are likely this week, they were told.

They agreed it is important for the public to continue to reduce social contacts, and it is understood current restrictions will remain in place until January 31.

High-risk children

Meanwhile, parents of many high-risk children who registered over a week ago for vaccines are still waiting for an appointment date, even as vaccinations open for the 5-11 age cohort.

A booking portal opened on December 27 but many families who spoke to the Irish Examiner from around the country are still waiting for a date to be issued.

In contrast, when the booking portal expanded to healthy children on Monday, appointment dates were issued to many within hours of registration.

Julie Sweeney registered her seven-year-old son last week, expecting a vaccination date for the HSE centre on North Main St, Cork City, to follow. He has a rare genetic condition.

“One week later I still haven’t received an appointment, but have watched with increasing frustration reports online of families with non-high-risk status registering their children on Monday and receiving instant appointments for their children,” she said. “It is very frustrating.”

A HSE spokeswoman said between vaccination centres and hospitals, “just over 4,000 doses” have been administered among children identified as a priority. So far, 50,300 children out of 580,000 in this age group are registered, she said.