Leaving Cert plans 'premature', according to opposition parties
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Plans to allow Leaving Certificate students back to school have been dubbed "premature" and "cobbled together" by the opposition.
Opposition parties have also called on the Government to get testing and tracing back up and running, and have hit out at the new increased international travel restrictions which they say do not go far enough.
Sinn Féin education spokesperson, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, said the Government had caused "confusion" and "chaos" for students, teachers, and parents.
Reacting to the decision to keep schools closed — except for special education and Leaving Cert students who will attend three days a week — he said the Government has failed to plan for a scenario where schools would have to close.
“This has led to a situation where plans are being cobbled together, and that representatives of school workers are informed last minute of what is happening," he said.
Mr Ó Laoghaire said in-school learning should be the priority but "there comes a point at which the rate of Covid-19 infection is so widespread that it isn't possible to ensure that schools can operate on a safe and sustainable basis".
He added that there is still no minimum agreed standard or best practice of remote learning, and the Government "are once again relying on the creativity and commitment of school staff".
Social Democrat TD Gary Gannon said the Government has a "fixation" with the Leaving Certificate and said this could have an impact this will have on the ability of teachers to provide remote learning for students in other year groups.
“The Leaving Certificate is important — but we should not be sending tens of thousands of students back to school at any cost," he said.
“We should be using the space created by the Covid-19 crisis to look at permanently reforming the Leaving Certificate so it is more fit for purpose.”
Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall criticised the decision to lift the UK travel ban on Friday and said the new requirement to show a negative Covid-19 test is not enough.
She said the Government had ignored the advice of chief medical officer Tony Holohon who said there should be no travel at all in or out of the country and that a single test was not a sufficient precaution.
This was echoed by Sinn Féin's Darren O’Rourke, who said exceptional measures are needed to limit travel.
Labour leader Alan Kelly said frontline healthcare workers must now be prioritised.
“There was no alternative to the lockdown measures now in place with cases so high in the community, and our hospitals under severe pressure — but it reinforces the need to get our testing and tracing system back into action for containment as soon as possible," he said.