Mr. Paul Rolston:

I wrote down the words "core funding" and was very tempted just to state "core funding" in my opening remarks and leave it at that because if we listen to all the comments made here, fundamentally, what is wrong is core funding. We come into these chambers with the opportunity to engage and try to identify how we can address that. All we can do is identify the problem and help the members to put the pressure on in terms of what is required. The bottom line is core funding because parents are the people who are subsidising that and have done so since the introduction of what was supposed to be free education. It is an ongoing issue. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the credit unions and Barnardos do studies every year which find that the cost for parents of so-called free education is increasing. That is scandalous. We have a reputation of being one of the fastest growing economies in Europe yet at a level we are further back than where we were in 2010. That is scandalous. It will remain the National Parents Council Post Primary Ireland's focus and demand that core funding is addressed and free education made available.

We also have to deal with the realities because parents have to fund their children's education, and parents will do everything they can to do that. The stress and pressure they experience over a two-month period is outrageous. As the Chairman mentioned, more than one quarter of parents have to borrow to meet those costs in July and August and the stress that causes in terms of family holidays, and families generally, is crazy.

While we try to address this crazy problem that has been created in a so-called First World, economically progressive country, I ask that some sort of an investigation or examination be carried out as to the reason some parents who go to credit unions to try to get a loan for what we are supposed to be subsidising the State for cannot even get a hearing. They are facts. What should those parents do? The credit unions, which are community-based, will not even speak to them because they have not got the wherewithal to guarantee that they can repay the loans. That is scandalous.

Apart from fundamentally restating that core funding must be brought back to deliver free education, we would advocate that there has to be something that will assist parents to spread those costs in circumstances where they have to borrow. I suggest there are many different scenarios that can be explored, for instance, a somewhat supported loan or a part guarantee by the State to allow people access the money it costs to educate their children. Those are the realities. Let us deal with the big picture but while we are trying to do that as quickly as possible, please support parents in their efforts to subsidise the education of their children.