Is anyone thinking of the children?

There's been plenty to baffle and frustrate when it comes to the imposing and lifting of restrictions necessary to stall the rise of incidents of Covid-19 in this country, but one of the most nonsensical decisions of all is the delay in allowing children to return to outdoor sport.

When Roy Keane left the Republic of Ireland soccer camp in Saipan prior to the start of the 2002 World Cup he was interviewed by Tommie Gorman who asked the famous question "What about all the little kids in Ireland?"

It may well be a very different scenario we find ourselves in now, but the question is no less pertinent.

Even though the schools have been reopened for over a month after a prolonged shutdown following the Christmas break and with evidence of infection rates rising because of the gathering of children non-existent, our children remain locked out of sports venues up and down the country.

While the kids can gather in their classes of 20 to 35 and then mingle in the playgrounds and play contact games such as Irish Bulldog 1-2-3 (remember that one, yep they still play it), Flush the Toilet and the much more simple Tag, they are not trusted enough to be allowed back to their GAA or soccer clubs to participate in some non-contact training drills which can be held in pods of 15 - not yet anyway.

The Government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) will tell you the decision to keep the kids away from returning to training is to prevent the gatherings that might occur when the children are being dropped off at the venues and when parents return to collect them.

There are no such concerns about the huge numbers of the same parents rubbing shoulders and squeezing fruit and veg in the aisles of our major supermarkets where some stores have 'limits' of 100 customers at any one time - yet 15 kids can't enjoy non-contact training in an outdoor environment - beggars belief.

The children of this country have been the ones hit hardest by this whole pandemic, yet they are in the lowest risk of infection category and if they do happen to pick up this terrible disease they are not as impacted by it as the older members of our society might be.

"But what if they bring it home to their elderly Grandparents or vulnerable parents or siblings?" we hear you scream. Of course that is a concern, but the GAA, and I'm sure soccer officials are the same, have been extremely cautious and diligent in how they prepare for the training and safety of their members.

Covid supervisors ensure protocols are followed to the strictest letter of the advice from NPHET, sports equipment is sanitised before and after use, players are kept in their tightly marshalled pods and proper cleaning and personal health etiquette is demanded at all times - the same can't be said in our shops, takeaways, playgrounds (yes they're still open) and other places deemed 'essential'. Those places all make a decent effort to follow the guidelines, but the fact remains, when they were allowed to do so, the GAA didn't just make a decent effort, they enforced those guidelines stringently.

That might sound like a hypocritical point considering the shame the Dublin footballers have brought on the association in the last week, but the fact remains we are talking about CHILDREN here, the most vulnerable people in our society in terms of mental health and physical well-being.

Without the release of sport or the interaction with friends in a fun and leisure scenario CHILDREN WILL SUFFER. Ask any parent and most will agree that in terms of social interaction skills and ability to communicate outside of the family circle their children are suffering.

They have missed out on so much over the last 13 months. Everyone of them has missed a birthday (some have missed two), they've been denied the chance to see their elderly Grandparents, they've missed out on school tours, sports days, football, hurling and soccer finals, meeting up with friends, graduations, two St Patrick's Days, Christmas celebrations, debs dances, the list goes on and the damage being done is incalculable right now.

The pain of missing out on so much will only be quantified in the years to come. Hopefully all our worst fears won't be realised. Hopefully our children will come out of this pandemic as perfectly rounded, sociable characters with strong personalities and an even greater determination to make the most of what they have.

However, much more could, and should, have been done to protect our children from the, as yet, unseen side-effects of Covid.

Denying them the opportunity to return to sport is a major own goal by whoever makes those decisions, the finger of blame points in many directions.

If we are looking for an example of how low down the pecking order of potential infectious scenarios the gathering of children for sport can be, then just look at the infection rates arising out of Cul Camps last summer. Seemingly, and as always we are open to correction, there was one case of Covid-19 from the thousands of children that attended the GAA summer camps and even that one case was indirectly linked to the actual camps themselves.

When Micheal Martin stood on the steps of Government Buildings in Dublin last week and hit repeat on his speech machine, urging people to hold tight for just a little while longer, you have to wonder at what was running through the Cork man's head?

With all primary school children already back at school as well as fifth and sixth year students back in classes, surely the end of the Easter break would have been the ideal time to let the GAA and soccer clubs open their doors to their under-17s again - but no, Micheal maintained they must wait just another few weeks, further extend their agony.

It does look as if children will get back to the playing fields before the end of the month. They won't be allowed to practice the art of tackling, defending or kicking under pressure, but at this stage that doesn't matter.

Our children need to be out and active, interacting with other kids, learning how to be sociable, responsible and caring for others in society. Hopefully they haven't forgotten those values.