[UPDATE, please note that the GoFundMe linked at the end, to cover running costs of protests undertaken by Enough Is Enough campaign, was taken down, without notice or consultation, last night (1 December), and all funders reimbursed. We are taken aback by its removal and will update with an alternative means of contributing soon. We would like to extend our thanks to all who generously contributed.]

We, the undersigned, demand an immediate rollback of the autocratic primary school mask mandate for ages nine upwards, instituted in schools across Ireland, by the above-named elected representatives, without due process or consultation, on 1 December 2021.  

We consider it an unconstitutional, anti-democratic mandate that has no basis either in civil society – being a violation of the child’s fundamental human right and Constitutional right to health and education – nor science, having proceeded without any declared evidence basis.

To date, no risk assessment has been published on the necessity or proportionality of this measure, nor has any consultation taken place on a national basis with parents, teachers and children.

NPHET’s advice directly contravenes the published advice of the Expert Advisory Group to the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA), which does not recommend the measure of mask-wearing in primary schools. It is extremely concerning to us that the eight members of NPHET can overrule the advice from 37 members of HIQA. Unlike HIQA’s Expert Advisory Group, which includes several paediatricians including two consultants, the membership of NPHET does not appear to include any paediatricians or other specialists on the safety, health and wellbeing of children.

WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS.

We are calling upon all people who live on these shores, who have children in the age cohort affected, FOR MASS NON-COMPLIANCE. We are calling on all educators, school principals, boards of management and parents’ associations, whose classrooms are affected by this egregious and damaging measure, FOR MASS NON-COMPLIANCE.

And we are demanding an immediate rollback of this mandate by our elected representatives, who answer to the sovereign people of Ireland: Taoiseach Micheál Martin; Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, TD; and Minister for Education Norma Foley, TD.

Your mandate is in direct contravention of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence, which cherishes all our children equally. 

“The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.”

No to discrimination. No to division. No to fear. No to coercion.

THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND DO NOT CONSENT.

(Petitioners' note: No monies paid to Change.org go towards our organisation. A GoFundMe, linked below, has been set up to cover the costs of our upcoming rally at Dáil Éireann and other rallies organised by our group – all of which work is undertaken on a 100% voluntary basis. All donations gratefully received: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-campaign-to-keep-your-rights