Students were today issued with a letter that they are to present to Gardaí should they be stopped and questioned when travelling into College or to placement sites.
The letter must be presented alongside a valid Trinity student ID.
Level 5 restrictions are currently imposed across the whole country due to a rising number of Covid-19 cases, requiring everyone to stay at home other than for essential travel. Among the exceptions to the stay at home order is included travel into colleges for “essential onsite activities”.
The letter was sent this afternoon in an email to all students from Brenda Walls, the director of student services.
The letter states that “in presenting this document the student confirms that they are aware of the government restrictions on movement/travel and will comply with those guidelines by only using this certificate for movement/travel directly associated with essential education activities of Trinity College”.
The letter is signed by the Academic Registry.
In her email to students, Walls warned that while the country remains under Level 5 restrictions, those students travelling into College “may be stopped by Gardaí and asked to show a letter of authorisation from the University”.
As well as a student ID card, the letter may also be presented alongside a confirmation of course offer.
Earlier in the month, when the current restrictions were imposed it was outlined that colleges are deemed an essential service and physical presence is permitted for higher education “insofar as onsite presence is required and such education activities cannot be held remotely”, according to the Department of the Taoiseach’s and Higher Education Minister’s websites.
In person research has also continued under the new government rules and the Library has remained open with reduced opening hours.
