Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)

I thank everyone who contributed to the debate. Deputy Mythen put his finger on it when he said that the Government amendment is an elaborate way to kill the Bill, essentially. It refers to consultation, collaboration, engagement and further review, but the substance of the issue is this: what difference is the Government's approach going to make to parents sending kids to school next September? Zero. None. It will be of no benefit to them at all. If the Government enacted the Sinn Féin legislation, it would make a real difference to the lives of people and certainly the financial position of families across the State. The Government wants to review a circular that people working in the sector have said has not made a blind bit of difference. Rather than being reviewed, it should go straight into the bin. That is the reality of it. The Government wants to throw everything into the Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill. When will that Bill actually come into effect? We are talking about an extended period after that before policies are developed. The cost-of-living crisis is now. We are living through it. We want urgent action from the Government to respond to it. What we are getting instead is consultation and engagement. I do not know about the language the two Ministers of State used when they said they do not want to tell schools what to do. That is exactly what we need to do, in a collaborative way for sure. An affordable school uniform policy needs to be developed, after thinking about this in a detailed way, and needs to be put in place in black and white. That is a reasonable ask and I think it would be met with a reasonable response from schools. It would make a huge difference to families across the State next September. The approach the Ministers of State have come here with - I do not know whether it comes from themselves, from the Department or from other Ministers - is the same type of mentality that has not made a blind bit of difference up to now. It did not make a difference in 2011, as Deputy Crowe said, or in 2017 when the circular was being drafted. The CCPC, Barnardos, the Irish League of Credit Unions and all of the poverty stakeholders say that not enough is being done. The Government's response tonight is wholly inadequate.

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