Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am very glad to hear the Minister will not oppose the motion because our asks are quite straightforward. We have put them to her this evening on behalf of people across north Kildare, including Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth and Naas, who are already struggling with the vicious series of mortgage rate hikes, exorbitant rents and a deep cost-of-living crisis. Even to get out your front door now to get a few bits and pieces for children going back to school, you are not talking about a €10 or €20 note; you will not get much change out of €50. The days of the tenners and €20 notes to get the rubber and pencil case for kids heading back to school are long gone. The primary school year is not even over and too many parents are already worried about September and the cost of free education, which is anything but free.

The so-called voluntary contribution is a source of involuntary mortification for many parents who simply cannot afford it. I hear what the Minister is saying but the schools where the parents cannot afford to pay the voluntary contribution are the ones that really need the extra help. Unless the Minister is making up the voluntary contribution, it is no use saying to parents that they do not have to pay it if they do not want to. The Government really needs to fund public education properly so parents will not be expected to plug the gap out of their own pockets when feeling under pressure.

By June, children are squashed into their trousers. The trousers are riding up their legs and their jumpers are bet on to them, as are their shirts, because parents do not want to buy uniforms while expecting a growth spurt over the summer.

By extending the free books scheme and proposing a ban on fee increases at third level, our plan gives hard-working people a financial hand, not another financial wallop. Things seem even worse when there is naked political indifference. People say to me they feel the Government is indifferent to how hard they are finding things. We hear people say all the time that their salaries go nowhere or not far enough and that there is no money even for the basics, never mind the extras. It is not acceptable that so-called free education should be so expensive for people, who are already funding it with their taxes.

I appreciate that the Government is accepting the motion.

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