Mr. Paul Beddy:

I want to thank the Chairman and the committee for getting this topic onto the agenda. Dr. Dockrell was part of the original group that reported back in 1998. The report has been out there in the ether since and very little has happened, so this is an ideal opportunity to try to kick off the debate again. I am on the National Parents Council, post-primary. I am chair of the sub-committee that develops policy documents on a range of issues, and as part of the briefing documentation we provided our policy document on the weight of schoolbags. This reflects support for the initiative taken with the report of 1998, and it has appealed for the past 17 years for a proper implementation process.

In my submission I have said that in fairness to the Department, under the terms of the report it has sent out several circulars over the years requesting implementation. Unfortunately, requesting implementation and asking schools to be more aware of the subject matter is not amounting to a heap of beans. It is the single most common topic that we are contacted by parents about on an annual basis, particularly starting in September, which is the first time many parents experience what their children are expected to carry home. By pure coincidence a parent in Donegal was on the radio on Monday, on Ocean FM, saying that his 12 or 13 year old son was carrying close to 12 kg in his first year. He put forward all the arguments as to what can be done about it, referencing that the report had been published in 1998.

In the past year Senator Gerard Craughwell, in a statement he issued, referenced that there should be action and that there should be some sort of study undertaken to see what schools were doing about it. We think that we need to get a grouping together, including all the stakeholders, with the report on the table. There have been minor changes and developments in this area over the last 17 years, but the report has substantially still to be implemented. Implementing means that the stakeholders have to be pursued to take up the matter.

The Department of Education and Skills has been sending out circulars and reminders. It may have had a poster campaign. From a National Parents Council perspective, what disappoints us when it comes to Department of Education and Skills' circulars is that all circulars rightly state that relevant documentation should be circulated to all parents councils. History and evidence is to the contrary when it comes to schools and boards of management circulating the relevant information to parents. If that was done there would already be a forum within schools to tackle this problem.

Our recommendation would be to include stakeholders. Included in that list of stakeholders should be the Union of Secondary Students in Ireland, which could be an important part of the process because it has modern intake and suggestions that could be made. From that grouping would come some sort of process where we could get some implementation. As to the form that might take, I can only reference to when we set up the National Parents Council a number of years ago, which was a post-primary education forum to discuss educational issues common to all educational partners that were of concern. The post-primary education forum had high-up people from the two teacher unions, the three management bodies, and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, NAPD. That is the sort of forum that we would suggest, and it would be good to add in some expertise from the likes of Dr. Sara Dockrell. As it is of national importance, the head of the National Parents Council primary, Ms Áine Lynch, will speak as to how the issue is affecting primary students.

We need a process and a key driver. It will not be enough to get a feel-good factor from us agreeing that something should be done. If we put something in place we need someone to drive it.