Sir, – The latest advice is that our children can return to school in September, but only if they stay a metre apart. I’ve yet to see children of any age stay a metre apart – their natural instinct is to hug, to play, to have fun close together. And we are now told that our children can attend school on a half-time basis only. Their parents, who are working and have no teaching qualifications, can do the other half of the teaching.
It seems that the Government believes it’s okay to travel anywhere in the world and return to Ireland without any enforceable quarantine, but it also believes that it’s okay not to educate our children.
Throughout this crisis, our children have been forgotten and their needs have been neglected. With a new Government, I hoped for a change of course. But it seems we are continuing with public health policy which takes no account of the education, development and mental health of our children. – Yours, etc,
JONATHAN DALY,
Dublin 18.