Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for tabling the motion, which is timely. It was part of the pressure that we have seen in the response from the Government in the past hour.

A good quality free education should be a basic essential in a modern society. It is the norm in most advanced countries. However, free primary and secondary education in this country is a myth, as has been said. It is a theoretical concept that does not exist in reality. Adding to the stress of the current cost-of-living crisis for so many families is the concern of finding the money to cover the cost of sending their children back to school this September.

The motion notes a survey by the ILCU, which listed the average cost of sending a child to primary school at €1,186, and at €1,491 for a secondary school child. Many parents are forced to take out loans to cover these costs, as the Minister will be aware. There is a simple reason parents are faced with this problem. As with our public health service and with our other public services, our education system is grossly underfunded, especially at primary level. The capitation rate per pupil per day in a primary school is €1. It is just double that in a secondary school. In primary school, this amounts to €183 per pupil per annum. The capitation grant was cut from €200 in the austerity programme of the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government to €170. The current grant per pupil, if we take a school with 100 pupils and four classrooms, amounts to €18,300 for a year. This supposed to cover heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general upkeep. In theory, a proportion the grant is supposed to be set aside for teaching materials such as books and primers. In fact, schools are relying on parents and on local communities to the tune of €46 million per year, not for enhanced learning, but to cover the basics, such as heating and insurance.

When we compare the funding of primary education here with other countries, we are placed in the bottom 50% of the OECD countries. Our primary education spend is 11% below the EU average. As a start, the capitation grant needs to be restored immediately to the 2010 rate in a serious commitment to providing genuinely free education at primary and secondary school level.

Before the Minister's announcement a couple of hours ago, the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance was lower than it was in 2007. It did not cover the cost of books or other learning materials. Again, I support the call in the motion for its eligibility to be extended to up to 500,000 children and families that earn under €80,000. It is important as that demand is still there. I truly welcome the €100 increase in the back-to-school allowance the Minister announced this evening. Even at that, it will be hard to meet the costs families will face but it is definitely welcome. I am sure families will welcome it.

While on the subject, I refer to the issue of hot school meals. I welcome the fact that the Minister is extending that to the 310 DEIS schools with 60,000 pupils coming into the system. We are still way behind the norm that exists across the EU. With the launch of the pilot scheme for hot school meals in 2019, approximately 10% of children in primary schools availed of the service. It does not cater for secondary school pupils. We all remember the campaign by the football player, Marcus Rashford, for school meals for children during the school holidays, which forced Mr. Boris Johnson's Government to concede. We have to ask what Marcus Rashford would think of the situation here. We are so far behind that he would not know where to start. There was a commitment from the Minister to extend the scheme, which she has done this evening.

I will repeat what I said at the very beginning of my contribution. We need good quality, free education, which should be a basic essential in a modern society. Steps have been taken this evening to take the edge off the anxiety of parents and families, which is welcome, but much more still needs to be done with regard to free education.

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