Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The idea behind the report was to move the debate on the cost of going back to school away from an annual airing by journalists in August and September which is then forgotten about to a constructive pragmatic approach to the annual struggle that families face to meet these costs. Nobody is denying that the funding to schools has decreased in the past number of years as a result of the crisis in the public finances. The joint committee is trying to open up the conversation on the issue of back-to-school expenses. We launched the report in June and have invited the relevant bodies to come before us again.

There have been welcome initiatives. The decision on admissions policies is welcome. I hope the payment of an enrolment deposit will be outlawed. The recommendations on the school book rental scheme have been well rehearsed. An announcement on school uniforms was made during the week.

An issue that I would like the panel to respond to is the competition between schools. There are 4,000 schools throughout the State in a country with a population similar to that of Manchester. Obviously schools are under pressure to boost their enrolment figures. As a consequence, schools must present themselves to be more appealing to the parent body. That is the reason extracurricular activities are put to the fore, crested jumpers come into play, and iPads are all the rage. I would like to hear the witnesses' reaction to that.

I think many of the suggestions that have been made are sound. We must have a deeper discussion on how schools are funded. The reason for introducing a finance committee into the mix was to give a clear picture of the financial constraints or pressures on an individual school and whether the money is spent appropriately. If a school does not have the resources to provide heat and light there is obviously a fundamental problem with the funding mechanism of the school and that has to be made known and transparent. The Department must be made to take responsibility for fixing it. It should not necessarily be the case that a school should have to have a fundraiser. The body that has responsibility in this area must deal with the issue.

Following on from Deputy O'Brien's comments, I too am disappointed with the submission from the JMB. We are trying to develop a collaborative approach to finding answers. The tone of the JMB document is all wrong; it is bordering on sarcastic, and I do not think it is constructive. There is a leadership vacuum in the JMB. If the members of this committee were to take a similar attitude in the topics we deal with, nothing would ever be done. To suggest that the JMB has no voice when it comes to a policy on uniforms would strike most committee members and parents as bizarre. We all know and accept that schools are under pressure. We also know that parents are under pressure. It is the responsibility of all of us to try to find solutions. For the JMB to produce a document which in my view is dripping in sarcasm, to offer no concrete, practical, positive or generous solutions and to suggest that the committee is not living in the real world and to abnegate responsibility for the cost of uniforms that are being used by individual schools under the patronage of JMB is surprising. If that is to be the level of engagement with the committee, I ask the JMB to revisit and be a little bit more generous the next time its representatives come before us. This issue will not go away.