Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is interesting.

I will make a couple of points. It was interesting what Deputy Butler stated about the shoes. My daughter is eight. She has her first communion on Saturday and I am still trying to buy shoes for it. I went into a shop of one of the named brands and it stops its children's range at size 3, and she takes a size 3. I wonder is she into adult shoes at eight years of age. I suppose there is an issue that children are now much bigger. It is not only my daughter. It seems to be a phenomenon. They are growing very fast, probably, more so than in the past.

There is a couple of issues. One matter a member of the public raised with me was that the book rental scheme does not cover matters such as art materials and that discriminates against those who might be interested in art. There may be comments on that.

I note that in some schools it does not seem to be a voluntary contribution when they send out notes looking for payment, for example, for art materials, computer material or whatever. Some schools are bending the rules considerably. In that regard, the committee visited Finland where schools are not allowed charge fees. They are also not allowed bend the rules for voluntary contributions or by holding fund raisers. The other point is that everything is paid for in Finland. Ms Tinsley spoke of a cultural shift. There is a more egalitarian society in Finland. One can see it across the board. All of the members were really impressed that it seems to infiltrate. Even when one speaks to politicians on the left and right, they all talk about equality.

Parents are represented here because most of us are parents or have family with children, and the parents council is represented here as well. Parents play a role. Recently, I was at a talk where a principal of a disadvantaged second-level school spoke of how he wanted to attract middle-class parents to try to achieve a better mix in the school - I suppose the idea was to bring everybody up in the school - and he succeeded. One of his approaches was to bring in a school blazer. That was one of the ways he attracted middle-class parents. Parents play a role in this. It is not as though they are innocent actors. There are parents affected by this but there are also parents playing a role in driving the need for expensive-looking uniforms, etc. Are there any other questions or comments?