An outbreak of Covid-19 has been reported in a Dublin special school, amid calls for special needs assistants (SNAs) and teachers to be re-prioritised for vaccination.
The Irish Times reports that 15 confirmed cases of Covid-19 are associated with an outbreak at CRC School in Clontarf, Co Dublin.
Mass testing took place outside the school on Thursday.
The school closed on March 26th for the Easter holidays.
In a statement, the school said: “The CRC can confirm that we have identified a number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in our CRC School, Clontarf.
“On Thursday the 1st of April we facilitated the National Ambulance service to carry out testing on close contacts, staff and students on our campus in Clontarf.
“We have consistently advocated for the early vaccination of all school staff as our schools are co-located with our clinical services and frontline healthcare staff.
“We will continue to raise these issues with the HSE and DES to ensure the safety of all pupils and staff.”
The CRC added that they will remain in contact with all relevant authorities, and they have already been working with stakeholders throughout the week. “We continue to work closely with the HSE and Public Health.”
Response
In a statement to The Irish Times, a spokesman for the Department of Health said the department does not comment on individual cases.
“The Department of Health and the HSE have reaffirmed that schools in themselves are low-risk environments. It is planned that schools will fully reopen after Easter on April 12th,” they said.
This comes after the announcement of a revised Covid-19 vaccination plan, where teachers and SNAs are no longer listed in a separate cohort to be prioritised for vaccination.
The move has been heavily criticised by teaching and SNA unions.
