Not being able to hug somebody or sit close to their friends was probably the worst thing of all, they agreed.

But the teenagers spoke of other hardships endured as a result of the pandemic. Some greater – like the classmates forced to do their homework on their phones during the first lockdown, since they had no other device.

Or the three-hour-long walks in the park to help a friend going through mental health difficulties because of the unnatural solitude enforced by Covid. 

“We had to walk this far apart on the path,” said Amy Ward (15), from Clongriffin in Dublin, gesturing the regulatory two metres. “It was really hard when they were going through such a hard time and you just wanted to hug them.”

"I’m very outgoing and talkative, so for me the hardest thing of all was the social aspect. You couldn’t go anywhere anymore,” said Aimee Fagan (16), from East Wall in Dublin.

The young women spoke also of the smaller disappointments that had hurt – the cancelled Little Mix concert for which Aimee had received tickets as a Christmas present. The extended family holiday to Orlando with aunties and cousins that Amy had so been looking forward to but which has so far been postponed twice. The loss of nights out with their friends at a disco at an age when their social lives are just beginning.

At the launch of the annual report by the Ombudsman for Children at their school, St Mary’s Holy Faith Catholic School in Killester, both girls spoke of their hopes for a brighter future in the months ahead as Covid recedes.

 

Ombudsman Niall Muldoon said 2020 had been a devastating year for children, who at the start of the pandemic were spoken about as ‘vectors and transmitters’ of the disease and were stopped from going into shops in a way that was unfortunate and also proved “completely unnecessary” in the end.

Children had lost essential rites of passage like Communions, Confirmations and debs, he pointed out.

They had suffered through the shutting down of sports, arts, culture – and even playgrounds.

They had missed out on “the joy of a grandmother’s hug, the fun and enjoyment of a funny uncle or aunt, the birth of new cousins”.

Meanwhile, many had endured great anxiety because of online teaching in the absence of adequate tech devices or broadband, or with the worry of parents losing their jobs.

Those who had shouted loudest were the business community and vested interests, but children weren’t being heard. “They were disproportionately affected by the pandemic,” Mr Muldoon said. 

There could be no return to “normal” for children after the pandemic, he said, adding that homelessness and inequality must be tackled. 

More children contacted the Ombudsman’s office themselves than ever before to complain about issues, with Mr Muldoon saying the level of anxiety was immense, with many expressing fears about calculated grades in the Leaving Cert. 

The office heard heartbreaking stories of children with additional needs regressing and about the turmoil the uncertainty caused, as well as stories from the ‘forgotten families' – children with a family member who risked serious illness from Covid and so felt unable to attend school even when it reopened, for fear of bringing the virus home.

When the pandemic struck, the government in Scotland had handed out 30,000 laptops with built-in internet access to children for education, he said – and, while most schools here did eventually facilitate pupils with laptops, they generally did not have built-in broadband.