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DUP party leader Jeffrey Donaldson addresses delegates at their party conference earlier this month. PA

DUP leader says debris of protocol must be cleared for Stormont to return

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson will meet Taoiseach Micheál Martin later today.

THE DEBRIS OF the Northern Ireland Protocol must be “cleared away” if Stormont powersharing institutions are to return, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has insisted.

Donaldson was speaking ahead of a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin later today, and he reiterated the political institutions need the support of unionists as well as nationalists and others.

The Taoiseach is meeting local parties in Belfast as a deadline to restore Stormont and avoid fresh Assembly elections rapidly approaches.

The DUP is blocking the functioning of the powersharing institutions in Belfast as part of its protest against the post-Brexit protocol that has created barriers on the movement of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland.

The UK Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by way of a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed domestic legislation that would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.

Relations between the UK and EU appear to have improved since Liz Truss became prime minister and London and Brussels have been talking up the potential for a deal through fresh negotiations.

Current legislation says that unless Stormont is restored by 28 October, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has to call Assembly elections – something he has said he is prepared to do.

Donaldson said: “We must lay solid foundations if we are to move forward.

“We need to clear away the debris of the protocol years.

“We need to restore cross-community consensus.

“No unionist MLAs support the protocol. Therefore, it must be replaced by arrangements that unionists can support.

“This is essential if the political institutions are to function and succeed.”

The DUP leader also called on Brussels to “loosen the guide ropes” for its negotiating team so problems with the protocol can be discussed and resolved.

He added: “The protocol continues to bedevil us, with businesses and consumers reporting further problems each week.

“A 25% tariff on steel, driving up transport costs by almost 30%, and uncertainty over medicine and veterinary supplies.

“The checks, however, on the Irish Sea border are but a symptom of the problem.

“They are the product of Northern Ireland being subject to a different set of laws imposed upon us by a foreign entity without any say or vote by any locally-elected representative.

“If we can secure a better way forward, then there is a great prize of stable devolved government, but without decisive action in Dublin and Brussels then the protocol will continue to erode the foundations of Stormont.

“Devolution requires the support of unionists as well as nationalists if it is to function and succeed.”

Sinn Féin, which emerged as the largest party in Northern Ireland during Assembly elections earlier this year, has repeatedly called for Stormont to return immediately to address the cost-of-living crisis.

Speaking last week, Sinn Féin Stormont leader Michelle O’Neill said: “We need to get around the executive table today, no more delays. Particularly whenever you see the scale of challenges that we have to tackle as an executive, not least fixing our health service.”

The Taoiseach will hold separate meetings with O’Neill, Donaldson, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, leader of the SDLP Colum Eastwood and Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie.

His programme will conclude with a visit to meet participants in programmes working with schools as catalysts for peace and reconciliation.

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    Mute eric nelligan
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    May 29th 2020, 8:23 AM

    If we are still enforcing a 2 metre rule in Sept as a country it’ll be another decade long recession.

    My two cents is that because the Leaving Cert was cancelled they can’t be seen to now say that the 2 metre rule can be reduced or cancelled. Come August schools will get the all clear to return normally.

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    Mute Seeking Truth
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    May 29th 2020, 8:48 AM

    @eric nelligan: I hope you are right. In the meantime I might avoid all school-related news articles as to help myself not get too frustrated about the lack of clarity around this. I’d like to enjoy the summer rather than spend it wondering if schools will all be online again come September.

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    Mute Forest Hump
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    May 29th 2020, 9:10 AM

    @Seeking Truth: wasn’t the 2 metre rule based on factual evidence that it’s the distance someone can pick up a virus from carrier e.g. if sneezing? In that case it makes no sense in reducing the 2m rule because you might as well have nothing. The argument show be 2m rule or no 2m rule.

    If community transmissions are down to zero they should scrap it and bring it back if there is an increase. Should be fine for September at this rate.

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    Mute Rochelle
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    May 29th 2020, 10:47 AM

    @eric nelligan: I don’t think Tony Holohan is offering medical advice on the basis of trying to avoid humiliating Joe McHugh. His expert opinion is reducing to one metre quadruples the risk.
    People who think everything is going to wind up back to normal somehow in a couple of months are living in denial.

    9
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    Mute Con Cussed
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    May 29th 2020, 8:46 AM

    Primary schools in Switzerland restarted 4th May. First two weeks kids were on half-day with one half of the glass in the morning and the other in the afternoon. In the third week the classes were back to normal, pre-covid-19. Now in their 4th week some kids wear masks but vast majority do not, there is no social distancing and kids play together. CV cases remain stable.

    165
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    Mute Con Cussed
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    May 29th 2020, 8:59 AM

    @Con Cussed: class = glass, silly typo…

    Initially some people were fearful, mostly dissipated. As of next week kids can mix with grandparents.

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    Mute Harry Meany
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    May 29th 2020, 10:16 AM

    @Con Cussed: Bet primary schools in Switzerland don’t have class sizes like here. We have one of the highest pupil/teacher ratios in Europe so, with all due respect, you are not comparing like with like.

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    Mute Con Cussed
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    May 29th 2020, 11:37 AM

    @Harry Meany: That is true but class size is not the issue. There is no “social distancing” so classes mix as they did pre-covid-19 and they play together in the playground – several hundred kids. Kids are reminded about personal hygiene and the need to wash hands regularly, etc. They also disinfect before leaving school.

    Adults on the other side have to maintain social distancing picking kids up, as kids are no longer thought to be a vector, at least in Switzerland. So teachers are potential carriers, they don’t hug but use feet to say hi/bye.

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    Mute 8-Bit-Relic
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    May 29th 2020, 8:16 AM

    ‘No child is left behind in education’ big words given the lack of consistency in education these days.

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    Mute Jack Johnson
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    May 29th 2020, 8:58 AM

    Kids and teenagers hanging out in large gangs in every town in the country for the last 2 weeks… But it isn’t safe to open schools. Teachers not happy with only having 6 months paid holiday.

    131
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    Mute EvieXVI
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    May 29th 2020, 9:16 AM

    @Jack Johnson: excellent point – children and teenagers have been meeting – sometimes in large groups – without social distancing. And they’re fine. Between warm weather and hanging nothing else to do, they’re likely to mix more as the summer goes on.
    Is it that teachers are afraid?

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    Mute Aidan
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    May 29th 2020, 9:50 AM

    @EvieXVI: teachers blamed for everything again. With the fear message the Government and NPHET are peddling teachers are likely to be afraid, but they didn’t come up this 2 metre rule. If cases keep dropping it’s time for a small bit more leniency, while keeping anyone entering the country accountable for two weeks isolation at least until mid July.

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    Mute Rochelle
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    May 29th 2020, 10:35 AM

    @EvieXVI: outdoors in groups of 6 or 7 is really not the same to spending 6 hours in a confined room with 30.

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    Mute EvieXVI
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    May 29th 2020, 10:35 AM

    @Aidan: no, not everything, just for this. I can’t understand the fuss about it now. Why ask the government to relax rules now? Why not have a contingency plan, like every other sector, and hope things will change by September?

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    Mute Declan
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    May 29th 2020, 11:49 AM

    @Jack Johnson: absolutely. This is just nonsense at this stage. Kids aren’t distancing now. Kids won’t stay apart all day with 2m rule in schools either. Schools should be open in June, certainly September and August if any common sense was applied. Not running the leaving cert by August is going to look ridiculous. No one to take on the teachers unions though who must be laughing their heads off on 6 months pay at home. Different day, same scenario in Ireland….

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    Mute Gerard McDermott
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    May 29th 2020, 1:21 PM

    @EvieXVI: Why are parents allowing their kids to go out and hang around in large groups? The warm weather is of course a draw to be outside, but parents need to provide their children with something to do. Parents need to to be responsible for their children, not letting them roam free, especially in the current situation.

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    Mute EvieXVI
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    May 29th 2020, 3:16 PM

    @Gerard McDermott: Not let children ‘roam free’? You think they should be locked up for the summer? Even in this, phase 1, they are ‘allowed’ to meet friends. Whether you think they should or not, teenagers are meeting up with more than three other people, and they aren’t great at social distancing. But they’re not getting sick, and they’re not transmitting this virus.
    Even Tony Houlahan has said that ‘We have effectively extinguished the virus from the community’

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    Mute Gerard McDermott
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    May 29th 2020, 6:24 PM

    @EvieXVI: I never said “lock them up for the Summer”. In phase 1, they are allowed to meet in groups of no more than 4 people AND maintain social distance. Which is slightly different to what you wrote. If the child can’t be responsible for themselves and others, in this case be socially distant in groups of less than 4, then that child’s parent(s) need to be responsible for their child’s actions. They may not be getting sick, but they may be vectors for the virus, especially if they are from a home where some one is in contact with those who have the virus. Effectively extinguished does not mean that it is gone. When we have no cases anywhere in the country for 14 days in a row, then maybe we can be more confident.

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    Mute milton friedman
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    May 29th 2020, 8:33 AM

    The skeptic in me feels we are talking about schools so much to take the spotlight off nursing homes…

    Surely schools should be told to get ready for social distance measures of 2m (or as close as possible) and then in August we can determine where we stand with the virus and make an informed decision.

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    Mute Vladimir Macro
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    May 29th 2020, 8:24 AM

    Keep the country shut down altogether.

    Work is overrated, especially with all this helicopter money

    69
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    Mute Sean Higgins
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    May 29th 2020, 9:04 AM

    By September we should have ample evidence from other European Countries which have reopened their schools earlier so less of the hysteria please…….

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    Mute Mark
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    May 29th 2020, 8:38 AM

    Even if they see sense and reduce it to 1m there will still be spacing issues in classrooms and infant classes will be difficult to manage. Can see split classes and week onsite followed by week home schooling alternation working.
    On another point, I’m lucky enough to say that my kids have never been as healthy as they have been during this pandemic. Goes to show how manky schools are and that the hygiene changes for the pandemic need to be adopted in daily classroom routines.

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    Mute qwerty
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    May 29th 2020, 8:49 AM

    @Mark: who’s going to homeschool my children when both parents work full time out of the home (and have done as essential workers throughout this pandemic) ??? What works for you doesn’t apply to us all.

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    Mute Mark
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    May 29th 2020, 8:50 AM

    @qwerty: yep, you’ll have to figure that out for yourself.

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    Mute Sharon Clifford
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    May 29th 2020, 9:16 AM

    @Mark: I agree! My little lad is in a special needs school and constantly picks up all types of infections. The school is old and mostly prefabs and all equipment is old and worn. I’d happily send him back in September once I know that everything has had a deep clean and done daily after they return

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    Mute Alison Kennedy
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    May 29th 2020, 9:22 AM

    @qwerty: totally agree. I’m not a teacher nor should I be expected to teach when I’m working. They have plenty of time now to put a plan in place but I can’t continue to school two kids and work full time. The teaching needs to be 100% interactive to ease the burden on working parents.

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    Mute Teresa O'Donnell-Joyce
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    May 29th 2020, 11:00 AM

    @qwerty: that’s going to be a problem. Also what about the sizeable number of parents who are unable or unwilling to homeschool their children. They are going to lose out big bigtime.

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    Mute just me
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    May 29th 2020, 11:34 AM

    @qwerty: totally agree! I haven’t been able to homeschool because I haven’t had a day off since this started…how is this fair to kids of parents who are essential workers. Are they to be punished by their parents working!

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    Mute Eugene Comaskey
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    May 29th 2020, 9:07 AM

    Time to let all this nonsense down the Swanie , open the Schools , the longer this nonsense is allowed to go on the harder it becomes. People out walking in parks and ob beeches and they cannot go to work, come on Government , take Charge back from the Baldy Dr. ,it is time to move on.

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    Mute Sharp Elsi Mate
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    May 29th 2020, 8:46 AM

    How anybody thinks this is possible to achieve is ridiculous and can’t believe its been talked about even. Most schools in the country are over capacity and the buildings never designed for this sort of arrangement. Kids will be kids and surely an educational institute can educate them in keeping their distance from elderly and vulnerable and proper hygiene etiquette!

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    Mute Alison Kennedy
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    May 29th 2020, 9:29 AM

    @Sharp Elsi Mate: life has to go on. The kids need to go to school. Parents are still working out of the home or at least we are. I can’t do home schooling. Instead of stating the obstacles let them put a plan in place using their resources where our kids are taught 100% by teachers not by us. They have had since March to get this sorted. It’s not like it crept up on them.

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    Mute Gerard McDermott
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    May 29th 2020, 11:44 AM

    @Sharp Elsi Mate: The job of educating children to keep their distance from the elderly and vulnerable and proper hygiene etiquette is the job of a parent. Sadly, there are parents in this country that think, like you appear to from your comment, it is the responsibility of schools and teachers to raise their children.

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    Mute Sharp Elsi Mate
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    May 29th 2020, 12:49 PM

    @Gerard McDermott: I never said that. Being that this is a new way of thinking that these kids will have to get used to for a while I think its prudent that the educators in their lives can contribute to this particularly in primary school. Ye have no problem teaching religion and the various attributions that curriculum has to teach young people in respecting each other etc.

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    Mute Gerard McDermott
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    May 29th 2020, 12:59 PM

    @Sharp Elsi Mate:
    This is what you wrote:

    “Kids will be kids and surely an educational institute can educate them in keeping their distance from elderly and vulnerable and proper hygiene etiquette!”

    Surely a parent can educate their child in keeping their distance from elderly and vulnerable and proper hygiene etiquette.

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    Mute Sharp Elsi Mate
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    May 29th 2020, 2:26 PM

    @Gerard McDermott: ok so you just read the first four words of my response and ignored the rest of it, great. Enjoy your time off sir.

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    Mute Gerard McDermott
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    May 29th 2020, 4:43 PM

    @Sharp Elsi Mate: Given that primary schools have been closed since 12th March, all these primary school students have been looked after by an adult of some sort, for the last number of weeks. For the most part that adult will be a parent, bar those parents who are a front line workers. Those parents can educate their children “in keeping their distance from elderly and vulnerable and proper hygiene etiquette”. Would you be happier if every primary school teacher in the country gave a zoom class teaching their students how to wash their hands properly while the child’s parent sits back and does nothing?

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    Mute Anne Marie Devlin
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    May 29th 2020, 8:48 AM

    I can imagine that a lot of people will not return to school on September. It will be difficult to persuade those at risk of dropping out that there is any point in going back when it seems as if education will be very much on a part time basis and liable to go into lockdown should anyone breach distancing rules.
    If school will be partially in class and partially at home, how is the department going to deal with the digital divide, the need for childcare whilst the kids are schooling at home and the parents are working? How teachers will cope with the lack of continuity must be a nightmare.

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    Mute EvieXVI
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    May 29th 2020, 9:34 AM

    HSE experts say schools not high risk Covid-19 settings https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0529/1143334-covid-19-school-hse-report/

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    Mute Rochelle
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    May 29th 2020, 10:38 AM

    @EvieXVI: Schools were closed early before community transmission was even recorded so it’s not like we have any data on this.

    The evidence elsewhere from schools that tried to sit during periods of high spread isn’t so positive.
    https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/70-cases-of-covid-19-linked-to-french-schools-days-after-reopening-1000165.html

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    Mute EvieXVI
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    May 29th 2020, 10:55 AM

    @Rochelle: The link is literally about data transmission in Irish schools. It’s not fiction, and it examines exactly the data that you say we don’t have. It’s a HSE report, that begins with ‘We examined Irish notifications of SARS-CoV2 in the school setting before school closures on 12 March 2020 and identified no paediatric transmission. ‘
    And no one is suggesting that we open schools during periods of high spread. Our community transmission is close to nil now, why assume it will massively increase in September?

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    Mute Adam Conroy
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    May 29th 2020, 11:13 AM

    Obviously this “caretaker government” still intends to be here in September. Talk of government formation seems to have taken a back seat.

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    Mute Ed Dunne
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    May 29th 2020, 11:55 AM

    As soon as schools open we are straight back to the Irish childcare plan of dumping the kids off with obligated family members etc. There will be vulnerable grandparents left to do school runs etc. What use will the all the lockdown sacrifice be if the elderly are thrown back into providing childcare? This needs to be considered before opening schools. Theres more to think about than little Johnny getting bored and getting him out from under your feet. The government need to be mindful of the knock on effect of their decisions.

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    Mute Alison Kennedy
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    May 29th 2020, 12:29 PM

    @Ed Dunne: bored. Is that what you think it is. They need an education also like you had snd they’re entitled to. Can’t speak for others but I have a childminder who can’t come at present.

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    Mute a politicians promise is as good as a lie
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    May 29th 2020, 1:05 PM

    @Alison Kennedy: I’m in the same boat as you, we are both essential workers… Child minder quit on announcement of lockdown so we have to share working from home… The right to a child’s education is enshrined in our constitution but this seems to be lost on our esteemed government when community transmission of Covid-19 has been all but eliminated.. Curve has been flattened, Hospitals are not under pressure and the R0 is 0.5 which is what we were told at the beginning we had to to to end the lockdown

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    Mute Alison Kennedy
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    May 29th 2020, 1:56 PM

    @a politicians promise is as good as a lie: very well said. I work in pharma and My husband in agriculture advisory which are both essential. The government seem to think that all these jobs and supermarket operatives are not essential services. They are. It is beyond difficult to manage it all whilst home schooling and imagine I certainly don’t expect grand parents to do it. Never have.

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    Mute Stan Kowalskis
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    May 29th 2020, 10:29 AM

    It goes without saying.

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    Mute Chris Mackey
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    May 29th 2020, 3:04 PM

    Which opening in his body is he speaking out of as the one he opened when he anounced the redeployment of SNA’s he hadn’t told the unions,sna’s, schools. He really has no idea as to what sna’s do in schools. The redeployment is still a mess & no sna’s redeployed as all are working with the students they support. Just look at the mess of the leaving cert. Hope he is talking out of the correct opening this time.

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    Mute Luke Redmond
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    May 29th 2020, 11:01 PM

    The 2m to 1m change is a matter of time
    Local TDs getting calls inundated I’d imagine from businesses clambering for the reduction. Once they get a sniff of a threat to their seat the tune will change

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