Childcare and key workers

Sir, – Martin Wall reports that healthcare workers, who are giving their all in the fight against the virus, have had to request emergency annual leave or to call in sick in order to care for their children ("Key health workers calling in sick to mind their children, -says Siptu", News, April 14th).

How long do we have to wait for the obvious solution to present itself?

Two members of my extended family are teachers in England.

In their schools, teachers work on a rota to care for the children of key workers and for vulnerable children. In one of the schools, teachers attend one day a fortnight; in the other, the commitment is two days every three weeks.

READ SOME MORE

That won’t deal with every case – but it is a good start. – Yours, etc,

PAT O’BRIEN,

Rathmines,

Dublin 6.