Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Government, I welcome the opportunity to close what has been an informative debate on this very important matter. Indeed, the important issue of back-to-school costs was recognised by this Government in the programme for Government and a number of measures were set out in the programme to help address these costs. The Government is committed to reducing the burden on parents of children going back to school. That is why three key measures were announced this evening by the Government.

In recognition of the rising cost of living, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, announced that an additional €100 will be paid in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. Almost 120,000 families will receive this payment automatically in respect of each qualifying child, with the remaining 30,000 receiving their payment over the coming weeks. This scheme is extremely important in supporting families to deal with what is a very expensive time of year. Today’s announcement brings the payment this year to €260 for children aged four to 11 years and to €385 for children aged 12 to 22 years. Overall, I expect this will benefit some 150,000 families this year, in respect of over 262,000 children. The eligibility for lone parents has been widened by increasing the income limits for single-parent families to match those of two-parent families.

I have also mentioned improvements already made, and being made, in the area of school transport. This allowance will also be paid to families who are availing of the temporary protection directive for Ukraine, and they will receive it on the same eligibility criteria as for Irish parents. It was also announced earlier that the 310 newly designated DEIS schools can avail of the school meals programme this year, benefitting almost 60,000 additional children. This includes over 270 additional primary schools that may provide hot school meals to their pupils in the next school year. We have introduced these measures to reduce back-to-school costs and to help families who are struggling.

Regarding transport, the Government announced that to help struggling families with back-to-school costs, anyone who has applied for and receives a school transport ticket for the academic year 2022-23 will not be charged a fee for the school bus ticket this year. The programme for Government contains a commitment to review the school transport scheme and, in line with this commitment, my Department commenced a major review of the scheme in February 2021. This review, which encompasses the school transport scheme for children with special educational needs, is still under way.

In more general funding, the Department provided approximately €300 million in capitation-related funding to primary schools and approximately €264 million to post-primary schools in 2021. This funding is provided to meet the day-to-day running costs of schools, including heating, lighting and insurance.

Primary and post-primary schools in the free education system are not permitted to charge any form of mandatory fee. Voluntary contributions may be sought from parents provided it is made clear to them that there is no compulsion to pay, and that a child’s place in the school, or continued enrolment there, is not dependent on a willingness to make a contribution. The manner in which voluntary contributions are sought and collected is a matter for school management, but their collection should be such as not to create a situation where either parents or pupils could reasonably infer that the contributions take on a compulsory character. No charge may be made in respect of instruction in any subject of the school curriculum or for recreation or other activities in which all pupils are expected to take part. Where voluntary contributions are sought from parents, it must be made clear to all families that the contributions are voluntary in nature and that their payment or non-payment of these fees will have no bearing on their child’s place within the school.

The Minister, Deputy Foley, the Department and I are well aware of the matters raised in the motion concerning back-to-school costs, and especially in the context of rising cost-of-living expenses generally and rising energy costs, in particular. I have outlined some of the many measures that the Government and, in particular, the Department of Education and the Department of Social Protection have taken and are taking to lessen the burden placed on families by these costs and expenses. I thank the Deputies once more for their contributions to today’s important debate.

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