Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills to the House to discuss the report by the Irish League of Credit Unions which shows a shocking rise in back-to-school costs as a result of cuts in the back-to-school allowance in 2011 and 2012. Since then, the cost of going back to school has increased by almost €300 for primary school children and by almost €500 for secondary school children. However, schools can do more in that regard, particularly in light of the survey's finding that eight out of ten parents must make a "voluntary" contribution. The idea that schools are doing enough is not true, but the Government must do more, as many parents feel under pressure. Fourteen per cent of parents do not go to a credit union for that money; they go to moneylenders. That is something we have to stop. It is the very reason John Hume set up the credit union in Derry, and it was set up in Dublin in light of the shocking number of people in poverty who were being driven further into poverty by resorting to moneylenders to cover costs such as back-to-school costs. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on that specific issue because when it costs €1,500 to send a child back to school, it makes a mockery of the issue of free education.

The Leader might clarify the position on an issue we discussed yesterday, namely, the closure of accident and emergency wards. He said that the Minister did not commission a report and that the report was not presented to him. He mentioned the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland doing a report, which is correct, but that was a year ago. In a reply to our spokesperson for health in the Dáil on 10 November last year, the then Minister for Health stated that his Department, in consultation with the HSE, was developing a policy on trauma networks for Ireland and that a steering group, which he had appointed, was currently in the process of developing this policy. That is not a report; it is a policy, and there is a big difference. As I pointed out yesterday, in 20 years of reports commissioned by government departments in England, not once did the report differ from the Government's policy. The policy that is being developed with regard to the closing down the Mullingar and eight other accident and emergency departments is of serious concern. I ask the Leader to clarify the position on that for the House. At the Irish Hospital Consultants Association conference in October 2015, the Minister stated, with regard to policy on trauma services, that there is international evidence that there are many benefits to organising trauma on a national basis, and he reiterated that he had set up a trauma steering group. That is the report we are concerned about. That is the one that refers to closing down all the accident and emergency departments. I ask the Leader to clarify his comments yesterday that the Minister did not commission a report.