In accordance with the Equal Status Act, all children should have equal access to courses and facilities in schools where they are available to others. There are approximately 500 teenagers and children across the country who themselves are healthy but who live with medically very high-risk, VHR, parents or siblings. These VHR forgotten families have been lobbying the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley's Department, looking for that equal access to remote learning for their children. Many children do not want to go to school because they are afraid their sibling or their parent might get very sick with Covid if they bring it home, yet they are being denied remote learning.

Can we get this sorted out? It is a case of equality. We are talking about 500 children and, as I said, they are scared to go to school. According to the Department guidelines, they themselves do not have to self-isolate, they have not tested positive for Covid and they do not have serious underlying conditions, but they live with those who do. This is very unfair. Can we get this sorted out?

I thank the Deputy. I am familiar with this issue and I am aware of a constituent of mine who is in a similar position. I will speak to the Minister for Education about it again. What we would like to do, if possible, is to set up some sort of mechanism by which they could join the classroom from home, if that makes any sense. There would be a camera in the classroom and they could join the classroom electronically from home.

At the same time, we need to balance that against the genuine benefits children gain from going to school and being able to socialise and mix with other children, which have to be taken into account as well. I will speak to the Minister about it.