Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 11 on the Order Paper be taken on the conclusion of the Order of Business. I hope that will be accepted by the Leader.

Despite all the talk and focus on the leaving certificate between the Government and the unions, there is very little focus in the media on the severe and detrimental impact that school closures are having on our most vulnerable students, particularly primary school children in DEIS schools, who look likely to miss two key months in the year of 2021. When this phase of lockdown was announced after Christmas, the Labour Party called for a monthly stay-at-home allowance to be targeted at our most vulnerable students, that is, those who receive the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, to allow families to cover the cost of additional outlays resulting from keeping children at home during the coldest months of the year. Many of these families do not have access to broadband and so rely on data for remote learning. Data are needed for them to access schoolwork, and there is also the cost of heating the home and the cost of feeding children at home.

According to a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, IFS, in the UK, if schools do not go back until after Easter, children will have lost around two thirds of the normal school year, and the impact this has on those children in the UK can be replicated across Ireland. The IFS says it will have a negative impact on all children but will have a catastrophic effect on the most vulnerable and most disadvantaged children. The IFS report refers to the long-term effect this will have on this cohort of children. It is likely to lead to a loss of earnings over their lifetime as children do not have the digital or home infrastructure to effectively learn remotely. While this is likely to be neutralised among children from higher socio-economic backgrounds, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds will lose up to Stg£40,000 over their lifetime.

That is why the Labour Party has again focused in on this cohort of children and called for a €1 million catch-up for children scheme to make up for lost school days and related activities. We have argued that this support must be targeted at the most vulnerable children and young people from socio-economic disadvantage, and those with disabilities or other needs. We cannot allow our most vulnerable children to be failed or for the cost of school closures and the meaningful Christmas that we had to be felt by those children, not just for next Christmas, but for their lifetime and for their generation. We have to plan now and focus on undoing the damage that this pandemic has caused to our children's education. We must have a big investment, targeting those children to make sure they are not paying for a lifetime for what we did over a couple of months before Christmas.