Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 2 September 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Covid-19: Review of the Reopening of Schools (Resumed)

Mr. Paul Rolston:

Absolutely and we have identified it a number of times. We highlighted it in our statement. Back-to-school time is always an expensive time for parents in the best of years and this is a year that has had significant additional costs with the closure of schools since March and the home-schooling that has already gone on, in addition to the requirements that might come from learning outside the school requirements nowadays. In particular we have raised the cost of transport where a student or parent may have to do that. Many of the most vulnerable parents cannot afford to pay for those upfront. We need to find a mechanism to avoid them being penalised from that perspective.

The commitment was given by everybody in the advisory group that no student will suffer as a result of Covid-19. This is part of that so those kinds of costs must be covered.

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