In June 2020, First Time TD Norma Foley was appointed Minister For Education by incoming Taoiseach Micheal Martin. Minister Foley, a former teacher, became minister after the State Exams had been cancelled for the first time and schools had been closed since March. Minister Foley has insisted throughout her term that “schools are safe”. In her term, contact tracing was abandoned in schools, leading to a rapid increase in cases among the school going population. In December 2021, Minister Foley appeared on RTE Radio and stated that based on a sampling of 90,000 students, only 3% were positive. Later that day, the actual figures cited by Minister Foley revealed that of those 90,000 tests, around 8,400 were reported which included around 3,300 positive cases. While the 3,300 positive cases are 3% of the 90,000 samples, Minister Foley misled the country as the real positivity rate in schools was 39% of reported results. 

This sample effectively disproves the policy of the Minister, Government and NPHET that “schools are safe”. Norma Foley has shown she is incapable of meeting the mark. Please sign this petition if you agree that Minister for Education Norma Foley TD is unable to continue in this role. Go raibh maith agat!

�UPDATE: This week, Minister Foley ignored the simple demands of all unions, who were simply asking for safer mitigation measures and asked for a slight delay in reopening. Unfortunately the unions were dismissed yesterday in an online meeting with Minister Foley. A recent poll shows 92% of people have NO CONFIDENCE IN MINISTER FOLEY.  We appreciate your support and continue to share this petition.