Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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One of the main issues that came up throughout the hearings was the difficulties families with children faced during the summer. Therefore, I want to ask the bodies, while we have them all here together, what they have done to help families through these difficulties? The committee wrote to the Minister to ask that free Leap cards be made available to children not just during the summer period but also in October during the mid-term break in order to allow them to continue to participate in activities and travel to visit their friends to ensure they would not be isolated and feel alone. However, we have been banging our heads off a brick wall. Last week the Minister made an announcement that they would be available to every child for the month of July. Children who are homeless will not have free travel in August, October, December and so on. Will the Departments represented collectively knock their heads together and sort out this issue in order that we can make at least one small thing available to the children in question?