Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Roimh fhoilsiú na tuairisce seo ar an gcóras Stáit Thuaidh agus Theas, tá go leor ceachtanna ar féidir linn a fhoghlaim ón gcóras atá acu sa Tuaisceart. We are in a cost-of -living crisis. This summer, and each summer, one of the biggest bills families are faced with is the cost of schoolbooks on return to school. Families are spending hundreds of euro on schoolbooks each year. It is a programme for Government commitment to expand the free schoolbooks scheme. We are now two years into the Government's term and, aside from a small pilot, there is no progress towards free schoolbooks. Free schoolbooks have been available in the North since 1947. We are 75 years behind, and counting. Four generations of children and young people in the North have been given access to education that might not otherwise have been accessed. This is access that our young people have been, and still are, denied. Will the Taoiseach's Government commit to rapidly expanding the free schoolbooks scheme to every school across the country?

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