About six weeks ago I submitted a document to the Minister for Education outlining the measures we believe are necessary to ensure that schools stay open in a safe and sustainable way, which we all agree is a priority. Unfortunately, serious issues with the tracing regime have arisen. The tracing system was one of the priorities we identified. It has been described by one union leader as "shambolic". Many teachers and parents have raised it with me themselves. They are concerned that a different and lesser standard is being applied to tracing in schools. In the last day or two some school staff members have received emails from their schools advising them not to follow the advice on contacts contained in the text they received. The Minister for Education said on "RTÉ News at One" two days ago that there would be dedicated school tracing teams. That is a good idea, provided the proper resources are allocated and the criteria are adequate. However, we have not heard any more about this initiative since then. When will it be rolled out, what will it involve and by what criteria will the school tracing teams operate?

I thank the Deputy. The HSE is adding about 70 staff to its contact tracing teams each week. The tracing staff are very busy and are under a lot of pressure. They had to deal with a real surge in cases in the last couple of days. That recruitment is happening. We anticipate having hundreds of staff on a permanent basis contact tracing within the next couple of weeks. Off the top of my head I do not know whether or not there will be dedicated teams for school tracing. I had not heard that, but it may well be the case. I will look into it and get in touch with the Deputy with more information.