Irish Examiner view: Children have been forgotten in row over reopening schools

Blame and guilt-tripping will only cause further division 

Josepha Madigan: Under fire for drawing links with mother and baby homes.

The war of words between the Department of Education and the teacher unions over opening up schools to children with special needs does little credit to either side.

Education Minister Norma Foley and Minster for Special Education Josepha Madigan have blamed the unions for the decision to keep the schools closed, citing a failure by them to co-operate. 

Speaking on RTÉ radio, Ms Foley said it was a “matter of deep regret that the INTO and Fórsa were not happy to recognise the essential needs of children with additional needs”. 

This guilt-tripping of the unions will get her nowhere and is likely to lead to further division.

Likewise, Ms Madigan’s attempt to draw some form of association with mother and baby homes was, as Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald put it, “crass and clueless”.

Anxiety about a return to the classroom is understandable, given the current high rate of infection. 

For months we have heard that schools are a safe environment but the danger is that the new variant has changed that. 

Parents of children with special needs should be given extra support to help them cope. 

They should also be made aware that assessment in the UK suggests that children with special needs may be particularly vulnerable if they contract Covid-19.

The sad result of this tiresome squabbling is that it has shifted the focus of attention from the needs of the children, where it belongs, to the needs of adults, where it doesn’t.