Ireland’s schools are ‘overcrowded, underfunded and dealing with a global pandemic on a wing and a prayer,’ according to a Limerick principal.

It comes as primary school principals warn they are spending evenings and weekends contact tracing on behalf of the HSE and organising coronavirus testing for families.

The latest figures from the Department of Health reveal that 12,500 adults and children, linked to more than 500 schools and childcare facilities have been tested so far – with 352 positive cases recorded.

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Tiernan O'Neill, Principal of Corpus Christi Primary School in Moyross, County Limerick said it is essential that schools remain open.

“When you see the ramifications of that lockdown when we didn’t have children in the school, we just cannot close at this stage,” he said.

“But what we do need is appropriate measures to be put in place to ensure we can remain open in a safe and sustainable manner.

“Sadly, the silence from the Department is deafening and no matter what fancy terminology we are using such as bubbles and pods, our schools are overcrowded and underfunded and are now dealing with a global pandemic on a wing and prayer.”

Tiernan O'Neill, Principal of Corpus Christi Primary School in Moyross, County Limerick

Mr O’Neill was speaking after it emerged that thousands of COVID-19 patients will be asked to carry out their own contact tracing this week because the system is under too much strain.

He said the Government “failed to deliver a fit-for-purpose fast-track, school-specific testing and tracing system” when schools originally reopened.

“I have been left in the invidious position of contacting staff and parents at weekends and at night-time making public health decisions that I am in no way qualified to make,” he said.

“The system is completely overwhelmed and you are dealing with phenomenal people in the public health system – brilliant people – but it is increasingly obvious that the public health precautions for our school communities are totally inadequate and the system is literally, totally overwhelmed.”

On Call for Ireland?

He said the strain on the system is harder to understand given 50,000 people who responded to the HSE’s ‘On Call for Ireland’ appeal right at the start of the pandemic could have been put to work contact tracing

“Was that ever followed up on?” he asked. “Because we are now in a Level Five context, which is an extraordinary context and schools are doing incredible work across the country, but sadly the work being done by schools, for me, is not matched by an extraordinary solution-focused response from Government,” he said.

“We have to open but I am not confident in the systems and measures that are in place and, what we haven’t done over the last eight months, I don’t know how we are going to do in the next seven to ten days to allow schools to safely reopen come November 2nd.”

Social impact

Mr O’Neill said that, as a DEIS school, the children at Moyross are often facing “many of the societal ills that impact on 21^st Century Ireland” and will find it extremely difficult to access online learning.

“You have children right across this country that are dealing with homelessness, that are dealing with addiction and are dealing with mental health issues,” he said.

“If we were to return to lockdown, how can you expect a young mother with maybe three or four children in emergency accommodation – it could be a one-bedroom hotel room – to try and engage with online learning?

“It is pie in the sky stuff.”

Support

He said the warmth, the love, the empathy and the compassion shown by teachers around the country to their students is “absolutely phenomenal.”

“It is powerful to be part of and to see the support we are getting from parents and the support we are getting from the wider community,” he said. “It is absolutely amazing

“It is absolutely amazing but the one place we are lacking the support from is our Government.

“That is where we are lacking the support from now. Schools can do no more and parents can do no more.”

He said closing schools again will not only impact on children’s education but will be really damaging for their emotional and social development.

“At the end of the day, what is education about? It is about relationships,” he said.

“That is absolutely key and it has been further amplified by this pandemic.

“We cannot develop those relationships via tablets and laptops. It has to be done with the children here on site but, for that to happen, we need clear protocols that enable us to move forward within this once-in-a-century pandemic.”

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