{"id":238,"date":"2011-02-13T21:44:29","date_gmt":"2011-02-13T21:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/sinn-fein-will-make-free-education-a-reality\/"},"modified":"2011-02-13T21:44:29","modified_gmt":"2011-02-13T21:44:29","slug":"sinn-fein-will-make-free-education-a-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/sinn-fein-will-make-free-education-a-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in will make free education a reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in will make free education a reality \u2013 \u00d3 Snodaigh<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in TD and General Election candidate for Dublin South Central Aengus \u00d3 Snodaigh has today launched the party\u2019s proposals for a return to free education.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking from the Department of Education \u00d3 Snodaigh said:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFree education in this state is a myth. The cost of education has increased exponentially year on year with experts indicating the cost of educating a child from junior infants through to third level to be in and around \u20ac70,000.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery September is a struggle for parents to come up with the money needed to send children back to school. Added up, the cost of books, uniforms and transport reaches into the hundreds and often thousands.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cSinn F\u00e9in is committed to making free education a reality.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cArticle 42.4 of the 1937 Constitution states \u201cThe State shall provide for free primary education<\/span><\/em>\u201d. <\/span>That obligation is not being upheld. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>A return to free education has to be a cornerstone of building a better Ireland. We have to recognise that education is key to economic recovery and enabling every child to reach their potential. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSinn F\u00e9in is proposing 6 simple steps to free education including opposing third level fees, increasing the school capitation grant and establishing a book lending scheme.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>In our 2011 pre-budget submission Sinn F\u00e9in showed how we fund our public services such as education in a way that is fair including asking those who have more to pay more. We have shown that public services such as education can be spared from cuts.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have shown how investing in services such as education will pay dividends and ultimately in the long run will end up saving the state money.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can make free education a reality if the political will is there. Sinn F\u00e9in has that will and, if elected to government will follow through on our commitment to protect and invest in our education system.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in will make free education a reality<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Time to Return to Free Education<\/p>\n

6 Simple Steps<\/p>\n

General election 2011<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no such thing as free education\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe State shall provide for free primary education\u201d. Article 42.4 of the
Constitution<\/p>\n

The costs of sending children to primary and secondary school and to third level
has increased exponentially over recent years. The development of a reliance by
schools on voluntary contributions from parents and the growing costs of school
books has been part of the increased financial burden placed on parents. Many
parents believe there is no such thing as free education any more.<\/p>\n

Education in this state has never been properly funded. According to the OECD
Education at a Glance report, education spending in Ireland was the fourth lowest
among 31 OECD states during the peak years of the celtic tiger. The figures are
based on trends in 2007 and do not take account of the cuts in the education service
since then.<\/p>\n

As unemployment grows and incomes fall due to wage cuts and increased taxes
for the low paid, more and more parents are finding it a struggle to find the money
to send their children back to school each September. Depending on the age of
the child this can cost anything from \u20ac300 to \u20ac800. The absence of school book
lending schemes means that purchasing books is a huge struggle for parents. In a
survey in July 2010 children\u2019s charity Barnardos found that the majority of survey
respondents (58%) experienced an increase in the amount they have had to spend
on school books in 2010 compared to 2009.<\/p>\n

Other costs are also increasing. Secondary school students will now have to pay
\u20ac350 a year for school transport. This is an increase of \u20ac50 from last year. Primary
school students will now have to pay a yearly school transport fee of \u20ac50 where no
charge previously existed.<\/p>\n

The Bank of Ireland Life report estimates the cost of education per child, from Junior
Infants through to third level at somewhere around \u20ac70,000, with \u20ac14,000 spent on
secondary school education alone..<\/p>\n

Due to cutbacks and inadequate capitation grants schools are finding themselves
forced to fundraise more and more to keep afloat. This requires significant donations
or so called \u2018voluntary\u2019 contributions from parents who are already struggling to make
ends meet.<\/p>\n

Article 42.4 of the 1937 Constitution states \u201cThe State shall provide for free primary
education\u201d. That obligation is not being upheld. A return to free education has to be
a cornerstone of building a better Ireland. We have to recognise that education is key
to economic recovery and enabling every child to reach their potential.<\/p>\n

Educational disadvantage means that over 1,000 children per year do not progress
from primary to secondary school. We cannot allow children to be left behind or to
drop out of education because their parents cannot meet the increased costs needed
to them to school. We cannot allow schools in disadvantaged areas to be left behind
because parents in those areas have less money to fund schools through voluntary
contributions.<\/p>\n

In our 2011 pre-budget submission Sinn F\u00e9in showed how we fund our public
services such as education in a way that is fair including asking those who have
more to pay more. We have shown that public services such as education can be
spared from cuts.<\/p>\n

It is time to bring back fairness in education. We would ensure that public money is
used to deliver better education for all children:<\/p>\n

We would end the state subsidy for private education.<\/p>\n

We would cap the salaries of university and college heads at \u20ac100,000.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in is committed to making free education a reality.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in proposals<\/p>\n

1. End the system where schools are reliant on voluntary contributions from
parents by raising the capitation grants to cover the real cost of running a
school.<\/p>\n

2. Establish a book-lending scheme across all primary and secondary schools.<\/p>\n

3. Cap the cost of school transport at \u20ac100 per year, maintain free transport for
primary school children.<\/p>\n

4. Abolish the charge for the leaving certificate and junior cert and for the mocks.<\/p>\n

5. Extend eligibility for the Back to School Allowance to include all families in
receipt of Family Income Supplement in addition to those in receipt of social
welfare.<\/p>\n

6. Oppose the reintroduction of third level fees through any guise and reform the
grants system to take into account the real costs of going to college.
<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in will make free education a reality \u2013 \u00d3 Snodaigh Sinn F\u00e9in TD and General Election candidate for Dublin South Central Aengus \u00d3 Snodaigh has today launched the party\u2019s proposals for a return to free education. Speaking from the Department of Education \u00d3 Snodaigh said: \u201cFree education in this state is a myth. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}