The Labour Party is determined to work with the Government to ensure that our schools remain open. We know, as the Government knows, how profoundly damaging it was for children and young people when our schools were closed, particularly those children and young people who are disadvantaged and those who have additional needs. I know that the Minister agrees with me on that, but he will have to accept that there is a huge amount of confusion and lack of leadership. School communities and principals are contacting every Deputy in this House about that level of confusion. They are saying daily that the system is at the brink of collapse. I spoke to a principal in the mid-west today who told me that he had a close contact issue with a member of staff, he contacted the helpline, as he is required to do, and he was told that the advice issued on Tuesday, even though it is on the website, is not yet active. That situation has changed between this morning and this afternoon. As the Minister will appreciate, there is a huge amount of confusion.

Yesterday, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, was on the radio telling the country that antigen tests will be rolled out in schools by the end of this week. This morning, The Irish Times reported that it will be the week after next, which is December. In April, the Government was told by the expert group chaired by Professor Mark Ferguson that antigen testing should be rolled out in primary and post-primary schools. The Minister, Deputy Foley, had the audacity to accuse me of being disingenuous. Professor Orla Hegarty of UCD said it would cost €12 million to have air purifiers installed in every classroom in the State. These are practical suggestions that the Labour Party has for the Government.

Yesterday, we raised with the Taoiseach if it is not reasonable, when justifiably it is the focus of Government to keep all of our schools open, that once those who are most vulnerable have been vaccinated, we would prioritise those working in our school sector, including teachers, SNAs and school principals, for booster vaccines. Is it not reasonable at this point to stop all of the unnecessary inspections in our schools given so many school leaders are dealing with nothing else but Covid?

Will the Government please stop coming out with the mantra that schools are safe? It is completely reasonable for Government to say that schools are no safer than any other working environment, but that it is really important that we keep them open. When the Government comes out with the one-liner that schools are safe, school communities do not think it is in touch with what they are experiencing day-to-day.

The Deputy is correct that it is best when we have worked collectively and collegially. That is recognised. It has helped us in the last year and ten months of managing this Covid pandemic and we should keep doing that. The Deputy is also correct that it is important that we keep all of our education establishments open, including at third level as well as primary and post-primary levels because they all have a critical role. The Deputy is correct in saying that our schools are under pressure, particularly in terms of availability of staff. I have been briefed by my colleague, Deputy Ó Cathasaigh, a former primary school teacher, that there is a real stress in terms of availability in that regard. The Department of Education recognises that and in response it has increased the substitute panel, which I know is under pressure, to 480 places. The Department has written to 111,000 teachers via the Teaching Council to see if there are teachers who are out of work for a variety of reasons, including retirement, who might be willing and able to return. It has also written to the higher level education colleges to see if those studying primary school teaching, without getting in the way of their important studies, could help to close that gap. Last but not least, it is waiving the rules and restrictions around job-sharing and career breaks in order to get those people back into the system. All of this is being done because there is real pressure on the schools and we recognise that. That will, and has to be, managed.

Similarly, I agree with the Deputy with regard to the need for antigen testing within schools. There will be an announcement this week. It has been complex and difficult. We all know that we have had to follow public health advice on this throughout this crisis. There are concerns that people may use antigen tests in the wrong way in that they may be taking them when symptomatic. We need to be identifying those who are not symptomatic, but test positive. We need to get that right such that it does not get in the way of public health guidance. There will be an announcement this week, followed by delivery of that system to our schools.

On the booster vaccines, this goes back to a certain extent to earlier discussions at the first roll-out of the vaccines. My view is that the approach NIAC has advised in terms of the ordering of delivery of boosters has been the correct one. NIAC has shown really clear evidence that boosters do work, that vaccines work. Those in our hospitals, in particular those in the ICU, are typically people who are either unvaccinated or they have an underlying condition. The vaccines are keeping people out of hospital and out of ICU. The boosters will do that even more. We should follow the advice of NIAC on the ordering of boosters in terms of best protection of public health. I do not think we should make any variation or deviation from that advice. If NIAC revises it, so be it, but I do not expect it will do so. The approach that NIAC has taken, and we have taken, to follow public health advice has been the right one.

We appreciate the Minister's engagement, but he will appreciate that if the school system collapses and schools have to close, which we absolutely do not want to happen, society will not be able to function. That would be profoundly damaging for children and young people, but society will not be able to function. If schools have to close, a lot of questions will be asked about the leaving certificate. None of us wants to return to that cycle of last January and February in terms of the level of anxiety in Irish society.

The Minister answered my question on antigen testing. I might not like his answer, but he answered it. He has also given me an answer on booster vaccines. I impress on him again that if the school system is that important to the Government, as I believe it is, surely the focus should be on keeping our SNAs and our teachers and our school communities functioning and our school system open. Even as a gesture of solidarity with that sector, who are listening to the "schools are safe" mantra from the Government which grates on them, a prioritisation of our school sector - the Labour Party will be unpopular for suggesting it because other front-line workers will suggest they are more deserving - if we feel education is that important, as we do, and a reassessment of the booster roll-out for those front-line workers in our education system is something the Government should reconsider.

We cannot go back to that situation where our schools were closed for a prolonged time and our leaving cert students were in a state of uncertainty. I do not believe we will. We are in a very different place now. As difficult as the situation is at the moment, it is completely different from where we were last January, last October or any other period where our hospital system really was exposed. It is less so now because of the vaccination programme. The addition of a booster programme will give us real ability to avoid the sort of lockdown measures that were required at the early stages in this Covid pandemic.

I see no reason or expectation that we should have to revert back to that level of restrictions or those sorts of concerns.

Regarding the booster programme, without any disrespect and with real recognition of the critical work our schools, front-line teachers and pupils have done, I do not believe it would be appropriate to start diverting from the strategy our vaccination programme has followed. It has been hugely successful and has maintained public support. We might risk losing some of that if we started to divide between professions regarding who will get boosters next. I do not think that would make sense.