Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for their presentations. This issue does my head in. As can be guessed from my accent, I was born in London but in a working class community in London in 1970, I had free books. I also had a hot meal at school every day. That is two generations ago but here we are in 2019, discussing these issues. I agree with what the Chairman said earlier about this committee having previously made very progressive recommendations in this area. Regarding school books, the only surprise for me is that everyone has not asked for a free book scheme; surely that should be a fundamental ask. As the representatives from Barnardos pointed out, it would cost 0.02% of the education budget. I ask those who did not advocate a free book scheme to comment. Clearly the basis is there, through the rental scheme, to turn that into a book distribution scheme. Surely we should all be on the one page on that matter. It is a very reasonable ask that should have been granted many years ago.

Do the witnesses have any particular recommendations with regard to technology? As the parent of three teenagers, I am very conscious of the cost of laptops and tablets for school. I do not know how families can cope with funding them. I am also concerned about the use of such devices in schools because I have noticed that students are doing a lot less reading since tablets have been introduced in schools. That is a separate issue unrelated to costs.

I also have a question about transition year, which is really expensive. Again, I do not know how parents can fund it. Clearly the Department has not made any provision for funding transition year which means that a lot of children cannot go with their classmates on school trips or take part in education projects because their parents do not have the money. How can that be right?

I welcome the SVP's recommendation regarding an analysis of the cost of introducing a hot meal in schools and hope that this committee will support that. It is so important because children are going hungry across Ireland at the moment. We have dealt with the school uniform issue. I wish to raise one other matter which is like the elephant in the room. We know there are situations where parents are going to moneylenders and situations where children are not provided with the books they need at primary level. At the same, we subsidise private, fee-paying schools to the tune of €91 million per year. I am conscious that at least a couple of the organisations represented here today have private schools as members so this may be slightly awkward. Nonetheless I must ask how we can justify a situation where parents are going to moneylenders and where children are not being provided with books while at the same time, the taxpayers of Ireland are subsidising private, fee-paying schools to the tune of €91 million. The counter-argument that comes back is that if we did not give the schools that money they would close and then all the children attending would go back into the State education system but that is not true. There is no evidence for that. There is no subsidy in Britain or France for fee-paying schools. What does it tell us about our society that while we have not prioritised children in terms of access to books, meals and proper supports in schools, we have consistently prioritised subsidising fee-paying schools in this country? I would welcome the comments of witnesses on that.