I want to express my disappointment that Members of the Oireachtas and the Law Library have not tried to keep to the rules and regulations. We might not like some of them but we all have a responsibility to do what we are supposed to do.

Within the next 24 or 48 hours, football teams from all over this country will engage in matches. That is a grave mistake. I understand how people feel and the point made by my party colleague, Senator Cassells, about the well-being of people who are looking forward to seeing those matches on television. However, let me give the picture from my part of the country. I am one of the most avid sports fans in County Roscommon. I am hugely into GAA and travel all over the country to watch games. I am also into soccer and always go to Longford Town matches because its ground is close to me. I also follow rugby. I watch all sports. Roscommon are scheduled to head to Armagh, Leitrim to Newry and Longford to Derry, although the Longford county board objected to going there. Kerry is scheduled to come to Monaghan.

What about Cavan?

I cannot leave out Cavan, I know lots of people there. Can I remind everybody of what Dr. Tony Holohan, a man who we all respect even though we might not always fully agree with him, said yesterday evening. He said that the virus is out of control in the Twenty-six Counties. He is a medical man, whether we like what he says or not, and it is outrageous and unacceptable that we could not ask the GAA and the Government to ensure those matches are postponed for a couple of weeks. I am not talking about abandoning them. We may look back with regret on this weekend in the weeks ahead. It is perhaps not the bravest thing to say because there is division in society on this matter but, really and truly, politicians on all sides have to be brave here, show leadership and say things that may be unpopular. I appeal to everybody, even at this late stage, to postpone those matches for two or three weeks until we get control of the virus. The same should apply to League of Ireland matches and the Italian rugby team should not be coming here in a couple of weeks' time. All those games should be abandoned for now.

I compliment my colleague, Senator Murphy, on his speech and agree with everything he has said.

We were promised that, when the schools reopened, there would be no particular problem with substitute teachers, etc. A number of principals of primary schools have contacted me in the past few days about the difficulty in finding substitutes. I was not a primary school teacher so I am not sure how the system works but I understand there are primary and secondary groups of substitutes. One principal told me of ringing 34 substitutes from the secondary list and being unable to get one into the school.

We are constantly being told by the Minister for Education and Skills that schools are not a source of transmission of the virus. I agree that the discipline in schools is excellent. Anyone can take a walk up the street by the Shelbourne Hotel any day when schools are out and watch hundreds of students coming towards them. I am over 60 and am petrified of this virus. I have met people in my local area who are absolutely petrified of children coming out of schools and there are a number of schools around my area.

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business whereby the Minister with responsibility for education can come here and explain to the House the plans that are in place to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of substitute teachers available to principals of national schools. I also want to be given the scientific evidence that states that children do not spread the virus. A scientific piece of research was published yesterday which stated that children are superspreaders. The bottom line is that I want somebody to come to the House today to deal with that matter. The Minister told me in Seanad Éireann that schools are not a problem. They are a problem if we do not have substitutes and we do not have a way of marshalling students as they leave the school.