The closure of schools to facilitate voting on polling day "sends the wrong message" about education.

As Ireland goes to the polls to vote in the General Election next week, hundreds of schools around the country will shut for the day.

Next Friday will be the third time this year that many schools will have to close to facilitate voting, after Ireland went to the polls for referenda in March and for the Local and European Elections in June.

The Children's Rights Alliance and the National Parents Council are both calling for an end of the use of schools as polling stations.

On The Pat Kenny Show, Irish Times journalist Carl O'Brien said school closures "send the wrong message" about education.

"It deprives children of a day of education," Mr O'Brien said.

"We’re talking about a pretty short academic year, particularly at second level, it’s about 160-odd days."

Closures also disrupt parents, as well as children.

"It is causing a logistical and financial headache for many parents who are trying to find childcare on short notice or pay for additional childcare," Mr O'Brien said.

School attendance

He said the use of schools as polling stations is at odds with the Department of Education's messaging on attendance.

"There’s a lot of messaging out there around the fact that ‘everyday counts’ to schooling," Mr O'Brien said.

"The official advice from the Department of Education when it comes to holidays is do not take your holiday time during the academic term because children are losing out."

He added that many vulnerable children depend on school for various services.

"We’re seeing breakfast clubs for example and after school [care]," Mr O'Brien said.

"Those types of things are provided particularly for vulnerable children - those children are losing out for another day."

Unoccupied infant school classroom, Alamy.

The official advice from the Government is to make every effort to keep schools open, even if they are being used for polling stations.

However, Mr O'Brien said health and safety regulations make it hard for schools to stay open in these circumstances.

"If you have a school open to the public, there are health and safety implications for children," he said.

"Effectively school principals make the decision to close down because it’s very hard to maintain regular schooling when members of the public are filing in and out - often in significant numbers - over the course of the day," he said.

Mr O'Brien said that he has yet to come across a school that has stayed open while its hall is being used for voting.

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Feature image: The polling station in St. Canice's Boys' National School Finglas voting during the Local and European Elections 2024. Photo Leon Farrell/Rollingnews.ie