Education Costs
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Darren O'Rourke (SF), Meath East

I think I speak on behalf of every TD in the Chamber in saying that come the middle of August, we will be in contact with the Department about children who have not got access to the school transport system. The Minister can take that as read - unfortunately.
I want to ask the Minister about a related point. My contention is that all of this happens in the same households on which there are demands to provide for the cost of sending children to school. On the one hand, I welcome the free books scheme. The Government is happy to remind people of that. On the other hand, a significant number of schools are demanding digital devices for every child, at a cost of hundreds of euro each. We saw media reports in recent days and weeks about Sweden and other places that are stepping away from this type of technology. Is this something the Minister is looking at? Is she concerned about the direction of travel in schools in Ireland, in particular the costs for parents?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23