Ms Deirdre Sullivan:

Thank you, Chairman. I endorse everything Ms Lynch has said regarding school books. Parents are already under enormous financial pressure. A survey we conducted found that 48% of parent associations are raising between €2,500 and €10,000 per year in contributions to the running costs of schools, with an additional 14% raising between €10,000 and €30,000. That is a huge amount of money for parents to contribute to the operation of schools even before one takes account of the cost of books and uniforms.