It's a pleasure to take part in this important debate this afternoon. As a parent, I'm fully aware of the impact the pandemic has had on younger generations, but thankfully my son is young enough not to have suffered any major detriment to his education. But, older children and young people aren't that lucky. As parents, we always worry about our children's future, but the pandemic has compounded that worry exponentially. Despite the fact that young children are less likely to catch COVID or spread it, and those children who do catch the virus are more likely to have no symptoms, Governments insisted on shutting schools for long periods, exams have been cancelled and learning curtailed, disrupting children's education and development at a critical time in their young lives.

While there was some justification for such measures two years ago when we knew very little about COVID, there is absolutely no justification for it now. As early as July 2020, medical studies were showing that children were significantly less likely to become infected than adults. When they did catch COVID, they were more likely to have a more transient upper respiratory infection with minimal viral shedding. The data continued to grow as more and more studies were conducted, and by the middle of last year the evidence was clear that children under 10 are not vectors in the spread of COVID. 

For older children and young people, it was more of a mixed bag. While they can spread COVID, they are more likely to be asymptomatic, yet we carried on closing schools to stop children spreading the virus, with little to no regard of the impact this was having on their development. Despite the fact that those most vulnerable to this disease had already been vaccinated, our children lost out on a third of their schooling during the last academic year, as the Welsh Government continued to overreact to the pandemic. Their failures and lack of leadership will have done untold damage to an entire generation of children and young people. 

Yesterday, the Welsh Government unveiled their plan for schools, but rather than returning to schools to pre-pandemic settings, they have decided to dither, to delay and to pass the buck. The clarity wanted and needed by parents and children has instead been replaced by further uncertainty. Their statement can be summed up as this: 'Things will continue as they are for the next three weeks and we'll pass the buck on to schools and education authorities; they can decide what restrictions are necessary'. There is no question on what decision has to be made. There has to be a complete removal of all restrictions, and it's high time that we learnt to live with this virus.

In a bad flu season, we sadly see as many deaths as we do with COVID, yet we don't panic and close schools, force children to sit in freezing classrooms or stand outside in the rain for an hour. It's time to end unnecessary and unfair restrictions, it's time to return our children's education to normal and it's time to stop overreacting. Diolch.