Speaking to the Dáil, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that there is “no good reason” that schools shouldn’t reopen this September.
With the summer months fast coming to a close, many students and parents are already thinking ahead to September, questioning whether schools will be allowed to reopen as they usually would.
Noting that while nothing is no risk, according to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar the risks associated with reopening schools are low and so should be allowed to go ahead. Speaking to the Dáil, Varadkar can be heard saying:
“My view, if you look at it rationally – the shops are open, the restaurants are open, the hotels are open, the hairdressers, the barbers are open, the Dáil, albeit in unusual circumstances is open and functioning.
Many countries in Europe that suffered from Covid worse than us didn’t close their schools fully at all, many that suffered worse than us and that have a higher instance than us now opened their schools in June. So there is no good reason why we should be the only country in Europe that doesn’t have its schools open at the end of August, at the start of the academic year.”
Adding that the government is currently working towards this, he later said that it won’t be business as usual and changes will need to be made.
“It won’t be the same, it will be different. It will be a new normal, or at least a new normal for the duration of this pandemic and I understand that parents want to know what that looks like… We’ll share that as soon as we have it but we want to make sure the information is right. Mixed messages and changing messages, we’ll all appreciate, isn’t a good communication strategy so we want to get it right.”
"There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to return to schools opening at the end of August … but it won't be the same." Tánaiste @LeoVaradkar agrees parents deserve to know how schools will reopen, but says plans must be fully finalised first to avoid mixed messages. pic.twitter.com/Iw1N6jrcYs
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 23, 2020
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