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

I commend Deputy Ó Laoghaire not only on this motion but on forcing the Government to a point where, despite its protestations, it was unable to hide from the fact that measures had to be introduced to support families with the costs of sending their children back to school. I welcome the measures that were announced today. I particularly welcome the announcement of free school transport, and I hope it will become a permanent measure. I also hope the school transport scheme will be expanded so we can get rid of the ludicrous situation where school buses in my constituency are passing children who have to get into the family car to get to school because they do not qualify under the arbitrary criteria that are in place.

With regard to the financial packages that have been announced, I wish to put on the record extracts from a letter I received this morning. It states:

I am a 30-year-old full-time working mother of three and have worked from when I was 16. I got married at 24 and have never been on benefits. In 2020 we bought our home and in December 2021 I had my third child. I had to return to work in March of this year, three months after having that baby, as the €250 a week payment was not enough to keep food in my children's mouths and a roof over their head. My husband also works full-time but due to the increase in costs it was just not possible for me to stay at home any longer. The government have added an extra two weeks for parental leave, which is wonderful, but what about the mothers who cannot even take the six months maternity leave off because of affordability issues? In September I will have two children attending school and recently I went to apply for the back to school allowance. I didn't even get past the first stage because the question was "Which of the following payments are you receiving?". As I said previously, none, so therefore I am not entitled. I cannot afford the €1,000 on school supplies. I also have child care to pay and again I am not entitled to any subsidies. This is an unfair situation.

I have no option but to write back to that mother and tell her that nothing has been provided by the Government today for her situation because it has not extended the eligibility criteria for the back-to-school allowance. According to Minister after Minister, no other measures will be in place until the end of September, a month after her children go back to school. I again appeal to the Government to introduce an emergency budget that will provide supports for families such as the family of this mother.

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