Seanad debates

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

3:30 pm

Photo of Catherine NooneCatherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As schools have just reopened following the mid-term break, I wanted to raise an issue relating to it. I was interested to see UK MPs debating whether there should be a relaxation of the rules on half-term holidays. This was triggered by an e-petition, signed by 200,000 people, condemning the hugely inflated prices charged by holiday companies during the break.

Many hardworking parents here also want to get away during half-term. It seems, however, travel companies increase prices from 40% to 300% for holidays during the break. Accordingly, a rising number of parents are taking their children out of school during non-holiday times which will affect their children’s education. In some countries, there is an idea of staggering holidays while regional states in other countries take holidays at different times to counteract this problem. It would be worthwhile implementing such a system here as many are caught in a parent trap with this matter. This was an issue I wanted to raise although I would not necessarily want a debate on it.

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