Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody. We are supporting the Bill on this Stage. I take on board the Senators' suggestion that this is the ideal forum to do what we need to do. We are all trying to figure out a way through this. One of the main things I noticed when I got this job, nearly a year ago, was the pressure voluntary boards of management are under with regard to capitation. The budget announcement yesterday is not reflective of where I want to be as a Minister. In fact, I wanted to go further than the 5% increase of last year. The rate of 2.5% is, I hope, indicative of where I want to go and where we need to go. Unfortunately, the budget yesterday was reflective of where we are at a given point in time, a very uncertain time. I do not want to repeat that over and over. The budget is preparing for a scenario that nobody wants.

With regard to the Bill, each school must in its own way deal with activities such as swimming lessons or yoga lessons and with the cost of the bus. Somebody very close to me, an eight year old, took a bus the other day to go to yoga lessons. Obviously, there was a charge for that.First, we must consider what is the best way to sustain schools in terms of the bread-and-butter issues. I refer to making provision for the move from oil to more sustainable energy. Currently, all the schools that rely on putting oil in tanks face into a winter with increased costs and they are under pressure in the context of capitation.

We must ensure that schools have the flexibility to deal with situations as they emerge. Senator Ó Ríordáin referred to school books. That is a matter I wish to pursue in a way that it is not just a pilot, as suggested by one speaker. I am signalling today a €1 million school book pilot scheme to find if there is a way of providing school books to all young people. The pilot is intended for primary schools. We still have to figure out how many schools can be involved given the allocation is €1 million. We could potentially involve 50 schools. I came across international research which showed that when a free books scheme was introduced in Helsinki, it received a lot of negative feedback from outlying areas because people saw it as a factor in attracting parents to send their children to schools in the city. It is no good having a pilot without there being a prospect of it being rolled out and, likewise, there is no point in a pilot scheme hanging around for a couple of years. We will introduce the pilot in September with the deliberate aim of bringing in school books. However, we must take other issues into account as well, namely, those relating to publishers, the cost of books and the frequency with which new editions emerge. I know times change and information changes but there is much frustration on the part of parents as well due to the frequent appearance of new editions. We must look at all the wider issues within the pilot. I look forward to working with Members on it.

The Education (Admissions to Schools) Act dealt fairly comprehensively with the voluntary contributions. No school can charge parents who want to send a son or daughter to that school, and they cannot charge for extending their period in the school. We must also take into account the fact that many parents gave a contribution of their own volition and they want to do it on a voluntary basis. I know the history of this House. I first came here in 2002 and I watched Bills coming through the Seanad. They started off in one place and ended up in a completely different place, not just with consensus but with good insight and thought-provoking debate. This is the place to do it. I look forward to doing that. We will see where it takes us. I am on the same pathway as Members in terms of the sustainability of schools, equality, fairness and inclusiveness. I hope we can achieve something in due course.