Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that going back to school is an enormous cost for parents and families and Government is acting on that. In June, we had the special child benefit payment for all families of an extra €100 per child. We have increased the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, which is targeted at low-income families and parents. From September we are bringing in free school books in primary schools. I hope that will be a great success and if it is, we can consider extending it further to secondary schools but it is far too early for that at this stage. We are also expanding the free school meals programme, particularly for hot school meals. This Government, more than any government in a long time, has shown that it is serious about helping families with the cost of going back to school. We showed yesterday with our agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation that the vast majority of children in the country will no longer have to pay to see their GPs. This is a Government that is delivering when it comes to families and children but we will consider what more we can do.

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