Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I mentioned the extension of the free schoolbooks scheme to all students. If you have one income coming in, we all know that every September and every summer, schoolbooks, going back to school and the cost of schoolbooks was the bane of most parents' lives. That is gone, eliminated. The Deputies did not have the good grace to acknowledge that. I do not expect any acknowledgement, but they just ignored that and its impact on household budgets. St. Vincent de Paul has said this has had a significant impact on household budgets. The hot school meals programme has been significant in its impact on children generally, and particularly children from low-income and difficult circumstances where they may not get a meal on their way into school in the morning.

The free public transport will be increased from five years to eight years. This is all expenditure that frees up people's income for other expenditure. We also passed legislation, the food ombudsman Bill, to deal with, engage with and give greater transparency to the entire continuum from producer to shelf in respect of supermarket prices and the income the primary producer gets for food in this country. That legislation was passed and is there. The food ombudsman has been established - it is a different title but it is essentially the same - to deal with the issues the Deputy raised in respect of transparency. That will have teeth.

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