We are out of time. I call Deputy Carol Nolan of the Rural Independent Group.

For the last few months, the vast majority of children at primary and post-primary level in this State have had to endure the sheer misery of being taught in classrooms and school buildings that are freezing cold. Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to say that thousands of very young children, especially those being taught in prefabs which were never warm to start with, are numb with the cold during the school day. I have had parents tell me that their children are returning home from school with headaches or muscle pain from the constant clenching of teeth or shivering. This is a ludicrous, absurd and unacceptable situation. How on earth can we expect children to learn in an environment where they are distracted by the cold, unable to concentrate, with the constant rush of freezing air from the wide open windows, particularly in the last week? How can we expect our teachers to work in those conditions? We, here today as Deputies, are not working those conditions, so why do we expect others to work in those unbearable conditions? According to the Department of Education's guidance, issued in May 2021: "The over-arching approach for schools should be to have windows open as fully as possible when classrooms are not in use (e.g. during break-times or lunch-times and also at the end of each school day) and partially open when classrooms are in use." That is all very well in the warmer months, but at this time of year it borders on negligence to expect pupils as young as five years of age to begin their formative years of education in conditions more suited to a penguin than a child.

There are also the added complications that come with having windows constantly open for children who are hard of hearing or deaf. The level of background noise in a classroom is increased significantly and only adds to the challenges they face from having visual access to faces and lips obscured by the use of masks. Many schools are not fortunate enough to have indoor PE facilities. This means that children are being taken from freezing cold classrooms to the cold outdoors to warm up, then being brought back again to a freezing classroom. We know that some schools are actively sending children home because of the inability to maintain the appropriate balance between ventilation and heating. The teaching union's advice is that members are instructed not to work in rooms where the minimum temperature level of 17.2°C is not achieved. However, many teachers are deeply conflicted and are simply trying to manage a difficult situation as effectively as they can without closing the classroom or indeed, the school. I commend them for all of their efforts that mean they have kept the schools going, but this situation cannot go on. It is intolerable and inappropriate. We need cop-on and common sense.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. It has been mentioned to me on a number of occasions. It is a case of getting the balance right between ventilation and temperature control. No child should be in a classroom and having to wear an anorak and gloves because it is so cold. I know that some children do have to experience that, often because of prefabs and inadequate buildings, even though we have replaced many prefabs in recent years. Things can be taken to an extreme. If a classroom is so cold, because all the windows are open, that a child has to wear gloves and a coat, that is probably passing the point of reasonable balance. I know that it is difficult for teachers and school managers to make that judgment. We are asking them to make that judgment and to be sensible in getting that balance right. Clean air is really important as we live with Covid. As we prepare for the possibility of future pandemics and do more to keep viruses under control, it is going to become more important in terms of what we do with our buildings and public buildings, in particular. That does involve ventilation and air filtration. That is why grants are being provided to schools which can be used towards the purchase of air filters. Increasingly, when it comes to new buildings, it will be about the use of UV light in ventilation systems to kill all viruses, not just the Covid virus. It is something we will talk and hear a lot more about in the years to come.

There are grants available to schools to help with this issue. I appreciate that it can only go so far and that work can only be done so quickly. There is a sensible balance between air filtration, clean air and comfortable and tolerable temperatures in any classroom or workplace. It is important that we get that right. One thing that can be done, for example, is to air a room. My granny used to tell me how important it was to air a room. That does not necessarily mean that you have to leave the windows open for eight hours. It is important to try to get that balance right.

I think the real problem lies with the Department guidelines. The guidelines state that the windows have to be "partially open" during class time. Unfortunately, many of our schools buildings are very old and indeed, are prefabs. That is where the problems lies. The majority of principals and teachers are adhering exactly to what they are being told by the Department. Even when they are adhering to those exact guidelines, there is still an issue. Does the Tánaiste accept that the Department's guidelines now need to be urgently updated, given that we are expecting to return to a greater degree of normality, which is most welcome? I appreciate the efforts of the Minister for Education and of the Government in trying to get the balance right, but I genuinely believe there is a problem here. It lies within the Department guidelines. We must ensure that there is common sense, cop-on and safety. Schools have done a fantastic job in keeping the schools running up to this point.

I also want to highlight an issue to the Tánaiste that has been raised with me by leaving certificate students, which relates to the issues in terms of the cold and children not being able to concentrate. The students are looking for the hybrid examination model. They feel that their studies have been disrupted and they cannot concentrate in class. I am calling for that issue to be addressed and for clarity to be given to leaving certificate students.

There is a group meeting today on that issue. I agree with the Deputy that it is important that leaving certificate students have clarity about this. They need to know the rules of the game, exactly what exam they are preparing for and the format and context of it. We will provide them with that clarity in the very near future.

When it comes to the pandemic, we are now moving into a different phase and chapter of managing it. Certainly, the risk in schools is lower than it was a few months ago, in part because the Omicron variant is less severe, because we are now able to vaccinate school children and also because of the level of immunity that has built up in our society. That leads to the reasonable view that we will have to look at all of our guidelines again. There will be a NPHET meeting today. There will be a Cabinet meeting on Friday. On foot of that, we expect to be able to ease restrictions. Following that, the change in the balance of risk will allow us to update our guidelines not just in relation to schools but also in relation to workplaces. We intend to do that.