Danny Healy-Rae demands clarity on school distancing and buses
Danny Healy-Rae pressed the minister for clarity on school reopening arrangements, asking whether one-metre or two-metre distancing will apply and how many pupils can be carried on different sized school buses. He urged that schools, teachers, parents and private transport contractors be given clear guidance well before late August or early September.
Request for clear distancing scenarios
Danny Healy-Rae told the minister schools need to know as soon as possible whether distancing will be one metre or two metres. He asked for scenario planning that sets out what schools will look like under each option so principals and school management can prepare classrooms and timetables accordingly.
Classroom capacity and alternative spaces
He warned that two-metre distancing could make it impossible for some classes to meet as they used to and suggested community halls could provide extra room. He cited a local example, Guinea Villa, as a potential alternative venue where space might be available.
School transport numbers and guidance
He asked for definitive guidance on how many children can sit on a 30-seater school bus and for clear rules by bus size - large, medium and small - so private contractors and drivers can plan. He stressed that transport operators need that information sooner rather than later.
Special educational needs and July provision
He thanked the minister for special needs education measures and urged inclusion of Down syndrome in direct July provision, saying online support is insufficient for some children. The minister responded that the July provision would be widened beyond autism, that choice for parents is central, and that any in-home or in-school provision must be voluntary for tutors, SNAs and teachers.
Minister's timetable and public-health considerations
In reply, the minister said a memo with the picture for late August/early September reopenings and special educational needs would be brought to Cabinet next Friday. The minister also noted the debate about one-metre versus two-metre rules and commented that under-13s do not have to wear PPE, adding a personal preference against PPE in secondary schools while acknowledging that public-health officials will make final decisions.
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Thank you Minister and I want to especially thank you for being engaged and responding at your best to every query that you're getting. You seem to be on top of everything but I suppose Minister for my part I suppose I need to emphasise and ask you that schools need to know as soon as possible what the picture will look like at the beginning of September. or late in August. I mean there's going to be a massive difference. Are we going to reduce the need to one metre as opposed to two metres at present? We need to know what it's going to look like because if it's still going to be two metres distancing people are worrying that all classes won't be entertained on the one day like they used to be in school. So that needs to be clarified Minister and maybe you won't be able to say next Friday whether the one metre or the two metre rule will apply but surely you should be able to say it'll look like this if it's still two metres or it's going to look like this if it's going to be one metre. We need to know what we need to know and we need to know and teachers and teachers and schools and management need to know because they'll need more room and I mean more room is available in community halls and just take a place like Guinea Villa there's a local community group there and they have a lovely hall So we need to know and we need time to interact and to see how those matters can be resolved and I suppose in relation to the school buses. We need to know Minister a 30-seater school bus how many children will be allowed to sit in the 30, what the story will be and surely someone somewhere will be able to define for each type or size of bus, the large, the medium or the small bus, how many they can take. We need to know those kind of things and we need to know and we need to get out there and let the private contractors and bus and indeed as well themselves they need to know that has to be known Minister sooner rather than later. I want to thank you especially for the special needs education and we asked you to include the Down syndrome and I hope that those children will be afforded the direct July provision as well and that it will be wound to wound and not online or anything like that because that's not sufficient for those. And parents of special needs children that have had a really, really tough time for the last three months now and you often find where they have one child, some of them have twos and that's double the effect. So we need to know Minister what's going to happen because if children will have to stay at home for days, their social development is going to be compromised. It already has been compromised by the fact, the very fact they haven't been meeting each other in schools for the last three months. So I'm appealing to do what he can to open up the schools and let the people know what the picture is going to be like. Maybe you'd answer me for some couple of things and what you don't get time, you might respond in writing. And thank you very much Minister. Minister, a very important question about the school transport. Closing time here, I've just got a short one day here Deputy. You're right, schools need to know the picture. So that's why I'll be bringing a memo to Cabinet next Friday with that picture, not just for school reopenings in late August, early September, but also the special educational needs and disadvantage. And look, I know there's a big debate around the two metre rule and the one metre rule and all that. We all live in the real world in terms of what a junior infants class and a senior infants class looks like. And if we're expecting junior infants and senior infants or first class or second class to look at those societal parameters that we've laid down, we need to be looking at what's the science around students. We already know that under 13 year olds don't have to wear PPE gear. And I certainly don't even want to see PPE gear in secondary schools, but that's not, I'm not a public health official. That's my own personal opinion. That's what I would like to see because I've saw, I've seen the photographs of South Korea. There are little pods, there are little pods in the canteen and all that. And it was just like, anyway, I won't say what it was like, but it was just a very, very difficult thing to process. And I certainly wouldn't. Sorry, I'm going to have to stop you because we've only a few minutes left for our last two speakers. I really am up against the clock here. And to Justin Down syndrome, yeah, it's not going to be exclusive to autism. We're going to widen it out. And two most important words for parents, it's choice. Choice, do they want it done in the house? And you're right, if we can get somebody to go into the house, a tutor or a teacher into that house, that's a possibility. But also if we can open up a school, that is a choice as well. But the most important word as well from the tutor and SNA and teacher's point of view, it has to be voluntary. And that was one of the positives of the July provision, it was always voluntary and that's why it worked. Thank you, Minister.
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