Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Where is a school meant to go when there is a shortfall between funding from the Department and its outgoings? There are two givens every year when it comes to back-to-school conversations among parents. One is the ironic statement that we have free education and the other is the equally ironic so-called voluntary contributions. It is ironic because in reality we know that they are neither voluntary nor a contribution. Sinn Féin introduced the Education (Voluntary Contributions) Bill 2021 to place a statutory obligation on the Minister to regulate the collecting of voluntary contributions from parents, to oblige schools to publish the total moneys collected annually and for the detail of the expenditure of those moneys to be provided. The Minister did not oppose the Bill but she kicked it down the road for nine months on the back of the Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill, which is still on Committee Stage. Our Bill wanted greater transparency and accountability. More importantly, we ultimately wanted a prohibition on voluntary contributions, children being treated differently, directly communicated with for payment, denied access to lockers and to school journals, none of which would have been dealt with under the Education (Student and Parent) Charter Bill. I essentially have one question, which has a yes-no answer. Does the Minister support the abolition of voluntary contributions?

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