Schools will need to hire COVID-19 assistants to help enforce the new public health guidelines when they reopen in September.

School principals are calling for additional resources to help them operate safely next year.

The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NADP) is addressing the Dáil COVID-19 Committee, alongside other representative groups this afternoon.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, NADP President Alan Mongey said a “huge amount of work” is needed if we are to see a full return to school in September.

“Post primary schools are extremely complex organisations so a huge amount of work and thought is going to have to be put in before we do that,” he said.

“Schools are going to require a significant investment over the next number of weeks in terms of preparing for it.

“We are talking about additional resources and the appointment of COVID-19 assistants to implement and monitor the full COVID-19 guidelines.”

He said his own school has over 1,000 pupils and over 100 staff members.

“To coordinate and manage that on the return to school is going to be extremely challenging and school leaders need the additional resources to do that,” he said.

He said extra resources will also be needed to purchase additional cleaning resources and hire new cleaning staff after cuts during the last recession.

“The guidelines talk about preventing COVID-19 coming into schools in the first place and I suppose that is the greatest challenge,” he said.

“If we have sufficient resources, we can work on developing the practices and procedures needed in schools to stop it coming in.”

He said that with the right levels of investment, all the country’s schools can return with the vast majority of students.