LIMERICK Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea has written to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Education urging them to remove the rule that mandates the wearing of masks by school children.
Stating that the Taoiseach and Government Ministers were very clear last December that the wearing of masks by primary school children was a temporary measure, Deputy O’Dea added that there was also a commitment that the measure would be reviewed in February.
“They were introduced at the start of December when the Delta variant was still the dominant strain. Now with the much milder and dominant Omicron variant, any public health rationale that was there in early December is now gone.
“With a huge proportion of school children now recovered from covid or vaccinated, it is time to remove the rule that mandates mask wearing at both primary and secondary schools and to allow teachers and students who wish to continue to wear masks to do so.
“I agree with the Minister for Health, who said recently that Covid-19 restrictions must only remain in place if there is a strong public health rationale for them.
“With Omicron, there is no rationale for continuing with the mask mandates in our schools,” Deputy O’Dea declared.
“With a week-long mid-term break due to begin on Friday, now is the time for the Government to lift the rule making face masks mandatory in schools.
“The State needs to allow people to take their own personal responsibility and to exercise common sense according to their own circumstances regarding Covid. One parent might not be comfortable with their child going to school without a mask and that should be left to the individual parent to decide on what best suits their child,” he concluded.
