Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire and Sinn Féin for bringing this important motion before us. It is very timely in light of the fact that the Dáil will be rising in a week's time and we will not be back before the children go back to school in September. We appreciate that the Government has made some announcements in recent hours, but we have to drive home to the Minister that parents face a summer of dread as they struggle to deal with primary and secondary school charges of up to €1,500 to send their little ones back to school.

Radical reform of the current back-to-school allowance is needed to deal with these costs. The €58 million back-to-school allowance scheme needs to be seriously expanded to cover additional charges placed on parents to ensure more people qualify. Payments should also issue much more rapidly. With the phenomenal rise in the cost of living and the rise in the use of food banks, a similar expansion of the schools meal programme to proactively deal with food poverty is also needed. I know from the feedback I get from secondary schools that many children are coming to school hungry. We need to recognise that fact because there has been a lot of talk about food security but surely at the present time, we have enough food for everyone. This problem needs to get recognition and needs to be addressed. We all know that the cost of schoolbooks, tablets, school uniforms, tracksuits and school shoes pose crippling expenses for families.

Some schools require very expensive uniforms. In these times of financial strain for families, this kind of set-up should be stopped. An ordinary jumper and pants should be acceptable rather than a school placing parents under this massive cost burden. Books that were acceptable for the same class last year should be acceptable this year and it should be possible to hand them down.

Children may love finishing school every June but many parents dread it because it is at this time of the year that they must start paying for their return in September. I will mention some of the costs parents face. Schoolbooks cost an average of €210 per child. I have been asking about this. Extracurricular activities cost €178. Gym and sports equipment costs €77 and can go up to €120 at secondary school level. I could talk for a long time but I must give fair play to my colleagues.

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