As the Minister knows, parents are paying hand over fist for ancillary school costs, be it for school uniforms, laptops, school transport or the so-called voluntary contributions. We cannot say we have free education in this country if the whole architecture that enables proper participation is hugely expensive for parents. What is so regrettable is that some of the good work that is being done, like the school books scheme - something that has been long-championed by Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and others in the Labour Party - is being eroded by these additional costs now being faced by parents. The benefits of technology in education have to be available to everyone on an equal footing. Gone are the days when you would just have a hand-me-down textbook and a few Aisling copybooks that would only cost a few quid. Some parents are now having to pay hundreds of euro for devices if their children are to just fully participate in school. As this motion states, we are at risk of creating a digital divide and new inequalities in our education system unless we put further supports in place for low-income families. Kevin Shortall, principal of St. Aidan's Community School in Tallaght, in my constituency, said on RTÉ last week that the choice to use digital services is not available to some schools because of the associated costs for parents. There are larger issues of funding for schools that I would like to touch on now. The Labour Party has been calling for a long time for an end to voluntary contributions. Schools should not have to go cap in hand to parents just to keep the lights on. Voluntary contributions would not be necessary if capitation grants were where they need to be. I welcome the fact capitation grants have increased in recent years but the costs in schools associated with that are also rising at a faster rate and the capitation grants still are not enough. Just last year, the Sacred Heart Junior School in Killinarden almost had to shut its doors because it simply could not keep up with utility bills. Thankfully, that school secured an early payment of its capitation grant, but only after months of anxiety and stress, and, even still, that does not address the underlying financial issue. It is just robbing Peter to pay Paul. The school will need to get this year's capitation grant earlier again and the cycle just seems to continue. As the capitation grant is not covering basic operating costs, many school boards feel that to avoid running deficits, which they will get into trouble for from their governing bodies, they have to find funds elsewhere. Some schools will fundraise via parents' associations or by increasing the voluntary contribution, but that will not always be possible or enough. The ever-growing need for increased revenues coming into schools means that things like school halls or classrooms, which are community assets that are routinely used by community groups or after-school services, are now being rented out at higher and higher rates, forcing community groups to fundraise themselves in order to keep going, or to opt out. Much of that fundraising comes from the same source, which is the parents of the kids using those after-school services. This all comes back to funding our schools. All too often, despite the much publicised overspend in the education budget, schools still have to fight tooth and nail to get the resources they need. I never predicted that so much of my time as a TD would be spent working with local schools on funding and resourcing issues. In the past few months alone, I have worked with ten different schools. Scoil Maelruain Junior National School, for example, will lose a teacher next school year and will have to merge classes, as will St. Mary's BNS. St. Dominic's National School is looking for DEIS plus status. Sancta Maria College wants the Department of education to finish building its PE hall. Ballyroan BNS is looking for a new school building. Abacas Special School needs a new school building. Saplings Special School needs an emergency works grant.

Sentiment score: 0.14

The list of schools goes on. A lot of these issues are on the Minister's desk and I really hope they will be looked at favourably.

Sentiment score: 0.25