I want to thank my colleague, Deputy Kenny, for bringing forward this really important motion and welcome the support across the Opposition. He does appear to be getting to some Deputies in Sinn Féin. No one wants to be talking about going back to school but the back-to-education allowance has landed this week and many parents are having to deal with an existing cost-of-living crisis. It beggars belief that after years of budgetary surpluses the at-risk of poverty rate and the deprivation rate continue to go in the wrong direction. It is shameful that with all the money being dished out, we are seeing a rise in the at-risk of deprivation rate among one-parent families. Almost half of all one-parent families are still experiencing deprivation and there is a rise in the at-risk of poverty rate for two-parent families, with one in eight of those families experiencing deprivation. The back-to-education costs are a very big part of the story of child poverty and deprivation in this country and the ILCU survey very powerfully spoke to that this week. Talking about back to school feels like Groundhog Day with regard to school uniforms. As my colleague Deputy Smith said, there is a Department circular that the Department has failed to enforce across schools. It is extraordinary to listen to the Minister of State talk about guidance from the Department to schools saying that no family or pupil should be forced to purchase a device. The reality, as we know, is that 30% of schools have mandated their pupils to get devices. Some 17% of those schools are DEIS schools. We know that some tech companies, a huge number of which have their EMEA headquarters here in Ireland, are supporting schools, including some schools in my constituency, but that is not good enough. We need the State to step in. It is frankly appalling that the ICT grant was cut last year and has remained the same this year and that there is no provision for maintenance and repair. Our key message to the Minister is that there needs to be a proper State policy with regard to ICT use in our schools, there needs to be proper supports to families to access the devices, and we need to end the digital divide and the very blatant inequality emerging to a much greater extent because of access to ICT devices in our schools.

Sentiment score: -0.24