Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister.

This is one of the most disappointing moments in my three and a half years working here. It is only a couple of weeks ago that we had widespread support for this amendment. The amendment stated:

"... Schools shall ... provide to both parents and the Department of Education information relating to voluntary contributions, inclusive of the total monies collected annually, and a detailed expenditure of those monies by the school; and (b) The Department of Education shall publish this information on the website, updating it on an annual basis.".

It was a simple amendment calling for transparency in school voluntary contributions. It commanded the support of every party in the House and Independents with the exception of Fine Gael.

I must be honest with the Minister. This is an opportunity that he should have embraced. It is an opportunity to give parents transparency. More important, it is an opportunity to show the total amount of school voluntary contributions made each year.

I must be blunt with the Minister. The reasons he put forward for rejecting this amendment simply do not stake up. Frankly, the phrase "additional administrative burden" is nonsense. Schools make totals in respect of the school voluntary contributions. There is no additional work. The work of the Department would simply be to request an email detailing the funds and then total them; that is it. It is, therefore, a smokescreen. The nonsense about league tables is just that.

Here is what really disappoints me. If the Minister was serious about reforming school voluntary contributions, he would have contacted my office. The Minister would have said to me that he had concerns regarding the Bill and asked whether he could work with me and consider the wording. There was not a single call, not a single email. That is because the Minister does not want a light shone on the total amount of underfunding of schools in this State. That is what this amendment would do. This amendment would require the Department to detail the total amount of school contributions and, thereby, the total amount of under-funding every year, and it would embarrass the Department. That is why the Minister does not want to go ahead with it.

The Minister has chosen the last afternoon of the last sitting day of the year on the basis that there will be Senators missing here this afternoon when I push it to a vote. Of course, I will push it to a vote, not only for Sinn Féin but for the parents out there who want and expect transparency from the Government.

It is a shameful moment for the Government to decide it will put these figures back in the dark and hide them because the underfunding, which is consistently a problem in the education system, is a cause of embarrassment. Despite the wishes of the vast majority of parents in this country, the Minister wants to keep these figures in the dark.

It is a poor moment for Deputy McHugh as a Minister. I will press the amendment.