Maire Devine (Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegations for attending. Twenty years on since the working group reported on this issue in 1997, I am sure schoolbags have got heavier. The baseline for musculoskeletal pain must be impacted on by the extra load. It was stated that prior to the weight of schoolbags becoming an issue, children had reported musculoskeletal pain. Is it what we used to call "growing pains"? Obviously, the weight of schoolbags impacts on children. As a mother of three, I watch them go out the door and wonder if they will make it. They are like ants falling back.

The link with obesity has been proved and the issue needs to be tackled. However, there is the double bind of children having too many books to carry. Could physical education, PE, classes be used to provide training in manual handling? Parents also need to be shown how best to handle a heavy schoolbag. E-books will be significant in reducing the weight of schoolbags. However, research findings were presented last summer on the negative impact of e-books, laptops and iPads on children's developing vision. We need more information on this.

While it is great to talk about having two sets of books, affordability is an issue. It costs €800 to send a child to school every year, which figure can be significantly higher in examination years. For the majority of families, affordability would rule out the luxury of having a double set of books, unless they were subsidised by the State.