Covid-19: Robin Swann to address emergency Stormont health committee with Assembly set to be recalled

A petition to bring the Assembly back from the Christmas recess early, put forward by Sinn Fein, was backed by the SDLP and Alliance yesterday.

Mr Swann, meanwhile, is due to appear this afternoon at an emergency meeting of the Stormont health committee as politicians try and get to grips with soaring infections levels just as school pupils return from the Christmas holidays.

This comes after a teaching union, the National Association of Head Teachers, warned that schools are in the midst of a staffing crisis, with some potentially facing closure.

The News Letter understands around 3% of teachers in Northern Ireland are not at work due to either coronavirus infection or self-isolation requirements.

The chair of the Stormont education committee has said the minister responsible for schools, Michelle McIlveen, had been warned before the Christmas period about the need for increased safety measures.

Speaking to the News Letter, Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle said there had been “an extremely robust” question and answer session between the minister and MLAs on the committee on December 17, when concerns for the return of pupils were spelled out.

“Almost all of the issues that schools are facing and that are being raised by schools at this moment in time had been well rehearsed by the education committee with the education minister,” he said.

Mr Lyttle said that, prior to the meeting, committee members had heard from “every teaching union in Northern Ireland” to hear their concerns, which were then put to Ms McIlveen prior to the Christmas break.

He said unions had called for carbon dioxide monitors to keep an eye on ventillation levels, air filters to mitigate against the spread of coronavirus in classrooms, clearer rules around large gatherings such as open days, and for measures to help with staffing problems such as calling recently retired teachers back into classes.

On air quality measures, he said: “CO2 monitors alert teachers to inadequate air quality but they don’t address inadequate air quality.

“Air filtration devices do that and, whilst there’s some debate around which device is best, there seems to have been significant agreement for some time that air filtration is one of the key mitigations for an airborne virus. That was a clear ask.”

He continued: “Another ask was for clear guidance for large gatherings, such as open days. I don’t think the guidance from the Department of Education has been adequate in that regard.

“And, consistently across all teaching unions, the clearest ask of all was for urgent help with the staff shortages. Whether that was redeployment of teachers who weren’t currently in teaching roles – from within some of the statutory bodies or arms length bodies in Nortehrn Ireland – or re-employing recently retired teachers if they are of a safe enough health status to do so.

“The education minister needs to significantly improve the wholly inadequate response on all those key issues.

“We already knew in December that schools were having to adjust their reopening. We’re seeing more schools having to implement staggered returns and remote learning. The teaching unions, educators, knew about this in December. This challenge was known to the education minister.”

Meanwhile, UUP MLA Alan Chambers said it is “reassuring” to know his party colleague Robin Swann will appear at the health committee today.

“Obviously we all share the concerns around the rising numbers of infections, and therefore we welcome the opportunity to hear from the health minister,” he said.

The latest update from Mr Swann’s department shows that a further three patients who previously tested positive for Covid-19 have died, bringing the total fatality count since the pandemic began to 2,998.

Another 7,133 positive cases of the virus were also notified in Northern Ireland by the Department of Health yesterday.

Yesterday morning there were 403 Covid positive patients in hospital, of whom 32 were in intensive care.