Sir, – You report that healthcare workers reported to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health that they felt abandoned by the State after schools were closed, and no assistance for childcare was offered by the State (Martin Wall, "Healthcare workers 'abandoned by State' after schools closed, committee told", News, February 9th).
In the UK, from the first lockdown when home schooling started, schools remained open for the children of frontline workers, thereby freeing their parents up to do their vital work. In Ireland, this has never happened. Yet again, the simple, common-sense arrangements that happen in other countries are deemed impossible to implement here.
Our politicians are great at praising our frontline workers, yet when they ask for help with their school-going children the answer is a blunt no.
That this happened during the first lockdown was a travesty, that it is happening again during this lockdown is a disgrace. – Yours, etc,
PETER KERR,
Castletroy, Limerick.