Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the three witnesses for their presentations, which were very informative, succinct and certainly give us a lot of food for thought. I am very interested in some of the comments made in that it is clearly the number one issue for parents that are making contact with Mr. Beddy. It is an issue, considering the number of students and parents at any one time. I have often heard people refer to the back - I know Dr. Dockrell would be a lot more competent in this area - as being like a credit card in that onr can keep bending it and bending it, trying to crack it, and eventually something snaps. That is the danger here. Maybe their backs are not giving way under the schoolbags, but they are certainly wearing them down over time.

I have six children going out with schoolbags every morning and do not take any notice of it but I was prompted to suggest to the committee before Christmas that we would look at this issue by my wife who is from Estonia where they are looking at legislation. The Estonian Parliament is talking about bringing in legislation, although guidelines were brought in in 2001. Maybe the committee has to decide what the way forward is because circulars are by their very nature advisory and temporary. People are reminded but life goes on. As we can see with this issue, nothing has changed 20 years on.

There is one other issue I would like to mention before I open the meeting up to questions. With the advent of e-schooling, iPads and all that, this should not be an issue. Why is it still an issue? Of course many schools have trialled iPads and are moving away from them. I do not accept that the advent of e-schooling is a solution. I reference Estonia again, which would be one of the most advanced countries in Europe for the whole e-school project. They are still talking about bringing in legislation on the weight of schoolbags. I think it is a very real issue that we have to touch on.

I call Deputy Rabbitte.