Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the real value the economy, most schoolchildren have finished their studies for the summer and I hope they and their parents are enjoying the holiday break. For many parents this time of the year is one of worry and stress as they face the prospect of challenging costs associated with children returning to school in September. The report released by the Irish League of Credit Unions this morning highlights starkly this reality. The report finds it costs almost €1,000 a year to send a child to primary school and €1,500 for secondary school students. These are huge sums by any stretch of the imagination. This is bad enough, but picture the additional stress of many families with more than one child going back to school. The report also finds that more than 80% of parents feel the costs associated with sending their children to school are a significant financial burden. This is the value of the real economy and 80% is a lot of parents. Alarmingly, almost one third of parents find themselves in debt. They borrow an average of €357. This debt multiplies for those with more than one child going back to school. Some are turning to unscrupulous moneylenders and other short-term high-cost borrowing sources to put the money together to provide for their children.

This is totally unacceptable, particularly when one takes into account the wider cost of living crisis, which is crippling families, and rising rents, mortgages, insurance costs, property tax and child care. This State is supposed to have free education in order to ensure that all citizens enjoy a decent opportunity in life. That is clearly not the case. Parents and children alike deserve better. More than one in ten parents are forced, we are told, to cut food bills in order to cover back-to-school costs. What has the Taoiseach done about this? He has made it worse. He has cut the back-to-school allowance by half since 2011. However, it is not too late. The Taoiseach could take some positive measures now and the State can afford them. He could increase funding to the school books grant scheme by 30%. He could increase funding to the school meals programme by 40%. He could increase the capitation grant to primary and post-primary schools. However, the biggest measure he could bring in is an increase in the annual back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance by €50. We costed this in our alternative budget for 2016. The total cost is €50 million for all these measures and €15 million in respect of the back-to-school allowance. That is clearly affordable. Why does the Taoiseach not send a clear message to the 80% of parents who need help with the cost of sending their children back to school? I ask the Taoiseach to agree to very modest propositions.

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