Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)

That is understood. The Minister raised the issue of the school books scheme, which is welcome, and I know from talking to people that it does make a difference. However, in some instances, it has been superseded by a device payment. Families are getting the requests now. I know the back-to-school allowance is about to open but the device payments have to be made now and they are between €800 and €1,000 per child. That is just not doable for some families. Schools are moving to devices. While eliminating the cost of school books is a good thing, it is subsequently replaced by an additional cost of between €800 and €1,000. I appreciate all of the work that goes into schemes like the free schoolbooks scheme, and I absolutely get it, but sometimes life supersedes that. People no longer have to pay for books but the sad story is that the school is not using books anymore and has moved to digital. I have my own views about whether that is a good or bad thing but, notwithstanding that, schools are moving in that direction and parents now have to find between €800 and €1,000. Therefore, they do not have to find money for books, and that is grand, but they have to find money for devices. I wonder if work is ongoing on how that can be offset. It is certainly something that is coming into my clinics at the moment given people are being asked to pay that amount of money.