Call for minister to tell schools to reduce bills facing families

By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

Friday, August 27, 2010

SCHOOLS should be given clear orders from Education Minister Mary Coughlan on restricting families’ bills for uniforms, books and other education costs, the Labour Party insisted.

The Tánaiste told the Irish Examiner this week she has no plan to intervene in the setting of policies by the country’s 4,000 second-level schools in relation to uniforms, despite the wide variation in costs between them.

While many schools allow parents to buy most items where they want, others have been criticised for insisting that pupils are dressed in crested and expensive school track suits, sportswear and jackets.

Labour education spokesman Ruairi Quinn said the minister can no longer wash her hands, as the crippling costs faced by families as children return to school in the coming days is putting unprecedented pressure on many households. The HSE has already paid out just under €59 million under the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance to qualifying families but looks likely to exceed the €82m budget set aside for this year.

"With more and more people now out of work, or on reduced incomes, and already under severe financial pressure, this a problem the minister needs to take by the scruff of the neck. With a bit of lateral thinking on the part of the minister and a bit of political will, many of these costs could be reduced dramatically," Mr Quinn said.

Minister for Social Protection Éamon O Cuív said delays in payment of the school clothing allowance, paid out of his department’s budget, are causing concern in the mid-west and west, but action has been taken to address the average of up to a month it is taking to process claims in those regions.

By the end of last week, almost 75% of the 161,703 families which had applied for the allowance had been paid just under €59m.

He said the various contributions parents must make to the running of schools to supplement Department of Education funding could be reduced if schools were able to pool their purchasing power on bills such as energy, an area in which the gardaí already secure substantial savings.

"There is no reason that the Department of Education could not negotiate such a deal for our schools, or that a similar arrangement could not be put in place for the providers of other goods and services, such as cleaning and stationery," Mr Quinn said.

The department has approached the Commission for Energy Regulation, which sets the prices Bord Gáis charges for gas and ESB’s electricity fees, about possible easing of charges for schools. But the request was unsuccessful, although groups of schools remain free to negotiate prices with independent energy suppliers.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, August 27, 2010