Ireland should follow much of Europe and trial a primary school reopening soon, according to a leading Irish doctor.
Dr Aoife Ni Sheaghdha, a GP and mother of three, said that keeping schools closed for a total of six months is a missed opportunity to provide for the mental and physical welfare of primary school children.
The medical director of Trinity Clinic in South Anne Street says it makes no sense to have pubs open before schools and plans should be put in place to bring them back soon.
The GP said: "With the commitment of the teachers, the schools can open early in mid-June for three weeks or alternatively from mid-August.
"There could be 10 children per class, two or three times per week. This would enable schools to iron out some logistics, rather than wait a further 3-4 months until September, when flu season will start again.
"We now know that adults transmit and seem to suffer more from Covid 19. It makes no sense to have the pubs open before schools. This is a living document. Children should not be left behind."
Denmark re-opened their schools in mid-April and have not seen a spike in numbers of Covid 19 transmission.
France’s 1.4 million school children returned almost two weeks ago with 70 cases of COVID 19 out of 1.4 million children reported, almost all of which were transmitted outside of school.
While over in the UK they are now planning to open schools in early June.
Dr Ni Sheaghdha added: "I'd love to see us do a trial here at least, then we could say we tried to do this and it didn't work or that did work.
"There's so much data coming from schools around Europe but we have no Irish data on schools here.
"I'm frustrated that the Department of Education don't have a plan in place, it seems to be being put on the long finger. My worry is we have problems in September and then would it run into the new year before schools are back?"
The mother-of-three added that some kids really need schools to get away from "chaotic homes" while kids with special needs have been left "high and dry".
Dr Ni Sheaghdha said: "This is not about grades, it's for the many kids that depend on schools and need it as a lifeline."
