Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have, for example, produced guidelines and ways to put in place a book lending and library scheme, showed how it can be done and invited schools to do it. We have provided grants in that direction. There is an element of leading the pack and creating the conditions. If we could have the generic uniforms costed, a parent representative could say the existing uniform costs X and every three years it changes colour because schools are colour coded between junior and senior cycles, which is not a bad thing, but there are costs associated. If we could have generic uniforms costed with a range of uniforms and badges and compared to current costs, we will probably try to explore that issue. We are under resource constraints in the context of manpower because we are losing numbers, but, ideally, that is the way we should go. Parent power can then take over.