We all know that school costs continue to weigh heavily on families. I commend my Labour colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, for proposing this important motion at this time. We are all hearing it from people in our constituencies. I hear it weekly from residents of Dublin Bay South. Desperate parents are telling me what they have to sacrifice to ensure that their children can feel normal at school. People are utterly squeezed by the education policies of the Government and, indeed, the schools. It causes immense distress to parents, principals and teachers but most of all, it is impacting on children in Dublin Bay South and every other constituency. Children are going without essential educational equipment or are suffering the trauma of seeing their parents grappling with financial pressures, taking out loans to pay off loans and going without basic essentials just to fund an education that, as my colleagues have said, is free in name only. This week, research from the Irish League of Credit Unions shows that more than one in four families are getting into debt over school costs. Nearly 60% of parents say that back to school costs are a financial burden. It is no wonder. The average so-called voluntary contribution in primary schools is close to €100 per child and €150 in secondary schools. I know that the Government will say what it has done to ease the pressures on families. I anticipate that is what the Minister will be saying. We acknowledge progress on hot school meals and schoolbooks. These are policies that Labour has been pushing for years. However, half of the respondents to the credit union survey say that their costs have gone up since last year. The trend is going in the wrong direction. Education is becoming less accessible due to costs, when education in a republic must be a right and not a privilege. Deputy Kenny rightly focused on the digital divide in his motion. We know that the Minister has written to schools to offer guidance. I am looking at the letter. It clarifies that there is no requirement for students to have their own laptop or device for the junior or senior cycles. That is welcome. However, the Minister then says she appreciates that decisions on the use of digital devices rests with the board of management of each school. This is despite the fact that she acknowledges, in some cases, that families have been directed by schools towards commercial credit arrangements to meet the cost of buying a digital device for their children. As others have said, no parent wants their child to be without a digital device when others in the class have them. This is mere guidance; it does not really offer much support to parents. We have learned that three in ten schools are still requiring that parents cough up the expense. In a cost-of-living crisis, parents need the Minister of State to have their backs and to support them, as our motion asks, by restoring grants, reducing fees and enforcing what is now only guidance and is being ignored by many schools that are still requiring parents to purchase digital devices. The schools need to be supported, too. Labour has been to the fore in looking for adequate supports for schools. Principals tell us that they feel they have no choice but to levy parents because the public funding they receive is just not enough to provide the supports they need to ensure that children will be taught the digital skills that will help them access decent jobs. High-quality education costs money and the Labour Party believes that the Government need to do more to ensure resourcing in education.

Sentiment score: 0.09