I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. It is important to have a discussion about the context of education costs and back-to-school costs. Of course, the context is massive inequality in this country. The gap between the haves and the have nots is worsening year after year while we have 11 billionaires in this country who have a combined wealth equal to that of 3.5 million people or two thirds of the population. The top 10% in this country have 50% of all the wealth while half the population own just 10% of the wealth. We see the reality of that on a daily basis. In Ballymun, Finglas and across this country families are struggling to pay for the very basics and one of those is back-to-school costs, the cost of education. Education should be free. It is a human right. However, what it is actually doing is throwing families into even more stress on top of not being able to pay the basic bills. In my constituency to respond and support families struggling with back-to-school costs, the Finglas voluntary food and family support service, Feed Our Homeless, last year organised help for families with a pop-up shop for school uniforms and shoes. This year families are struggling so much they are reporting they are already dealing with being cut off from electricity and gas. Families and services are asking for support again. Families are finding it extremely challenging. One in five children in this country lives in a family below the poverty line after housing costs. Children and families cannot cover the basics. A second tier of child benefit would lift 55,000 children out of poverty but the Government will not do it. It costs the same as what it has given in tax breaks to developers, investor funds and large fast-food giants. Childhoods pass quickly. No child should have their future limited by poverty. Every child deserves a fair start in life and a chance to thrive. Child poverty is not inevitable. It is a policy choice. It results from decades of policy choices that have not prioritised child poverty. We need to end child poverty in this country and we can. Part of it is ensuring education is free and school costs are provided for. Ultimately, it is about ensuring families can cover the basics.

Sentiment score: 0.06