"Crowded and chaotic" scenes outside schools witnessed this week are "a danger to public health" according to a Dublin TD who has put pressure on the Government to sort out toe school drop off situation.
Dublin Central TD Gary Gannon was commenting on widely circulated image on social media taken outside one Dublin school during the week.
The pictures clearly show parents and children squeezing through cars in an uncomfortably close space where social distancing is virtually impossible - the exact conditions where COVID-19 thrives.
Deputy Gannon, who is the Social Democrats spokesperson on education, tweeted the images along with a caption addressing Education Minster Norma Foley.
His damning post read: "The crowded and chaotic scenes that we are witnessing outside many schools each morning now are a danger to public health @NormaFoleyTD1 - There is nothing in the reopening guidelines advising on drop offs and this is the outcome of poor communication. Needs to be addressed fast."
When contacted by Dublin Live, he said the cramped conditions are ones that have been replicated all over the capital, if not the whole country.
He sympathises with the individual school, instead directing his anger once again at the Minister.
"Schools have been left in a very difficult situation because what happens outside of school isn’t in the control of the principal," Deputy Gannon told Dublin Live.
"The Department of Education has come up with a plan where they would work in consultation with public health officials, with local authorities, with the Gardai and they've done nothing.
"The image I shared earlier is one that’s been replicated certainly all over Dublin but I imagine through Ireland - and they need leadership for it to be resolved.
"I wanted to put some focus and attention on it today but I also hope complacency doesn't set in in three or four weeks either, so the Minister can’t just wash her hands off it and say it’s up to the schools’ or the individual’s responsibility because schools don’t operate in isolation."
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