Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is the first legislation to which I have had the honour of putting my name. I commend it to the House. This is the time of year when many families, particularly those with school-going children, find themselves under financial stress, with many traditionally receiving home and motor tax insurance renewal documents at this time. People are already planning for the Christmas period. Many of these families are floored when they receive a letter from their local school requesting, as Deputy Ó Laoghaire noted, hundreds of euro in so-called voluntary contributions. These contributions are requested because schools believe they need to fundraise in such a manner to simply keep the lights on. We heard over the Covid period that some schools were unable to provide hot water for children to wash their hands.

The Bill seeks to address the undue stress parents are being put under. It will oblige schools to make apparent that these contributions are indeed voluntary and make them truly voluntary by ceasing the practice of children being excluded from some activities as a result of a parent’s inability to pay, as unfortunately happens. It will prevent schools from contacting parents more than once a year seeking such contributions and ensure voluntary contributions are truly voluntary in the interim, while setting out - this is crucially important - a pathway to end the practice once and for all by ensuring

the Government adequately and appropriately funds our schools.

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