Niall Muldoon: Emergency framework needed to prevent children being let down like this again 

The current uncertainty cannot continue and cannot be allowed to happen again in relation to any cohort of children – Children's Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon

Dr Niall Muldoon, Ombudsman for Children: 'Any solutions developed now, for the partial re-opening of our schools, should also hold for any future dates when we find ourselves in lockdown.' Picture: Moya Nolan

This February will mark 12 months since the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in Ireland and it was on March the 12, 2020, that schools across the country closed. 

What was initially hoped would be a temporary shutdown has instead become a fraught pattern of home-schooling, re-openings and closures, rumour and anxiety.