Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West Se\u00e1n Crowe has said the government must do much more to support families across south Dublin struggling with back to school costs.
Speaking after the Barnardos report was issued yesterday, Teachta Crowe said:
\u201cLast month, Sinn F\u00e9in published a package of measures to cut back-to-school costs. This set out how families in Dublin South West can get much needed support for these spiralling costs, as the price of uniforms, school books, lunches, voluntary contributions and transport can reach hundreds or even thousands of Euros.
\u201cFamilies are already under huge pressure due to the cost of living crisis and will be under real financial pressure to cover these bills. I have been contacted by families across south Dublin who are very worried about how they will manage to meet these costs and stay on top of their basic bills as well. This should not be happening. No one should face this stress or the prospect of going into debt, just to send a child to school.
\u201cI welcome that the government accepted some of Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s proposals and did finally act to increase the Back to Education Allowance. However, they did not go far enough. I am urging the government to ensure they deliver on Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s proposals to cut back to school costs so that families can put money back in their pockets urgently.
\u201cMiddle income families need help this summer. They can\u2019t wait. People who have one child in school and who have a combined income of \u20ac620 or more per week don\u2019t get any assistance in terms of Back to School clothing and footwear allowance. Sinn F\u00e9in are proposing that this eligibility is widened to include middle income earners.
\u201cThese are people on modest incomes who are working hard and cannot afford to pay these spiralling back-to-school costs. It would be fair and reasonable for the eligibility to be widened to ensure these families get a break from the cost of living crisis. This would make a real difference to so many people across south Dublin.
\u201cThere is still time to act, but the government cannot delay any longer. This issue is urgent. We are already in the middle of summer and these costs are coming in. Families cannot wait any longer.
\u201cThe government has shown before that they can act, when they did agree to take on some of Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s proposals. I am urging them to deliver on all our measures. Our proposals are fair, reasonable and deliverable. They would make a real difference to families who are under major financial pressure.
\u201cThe government must widen eligibility for the Back to Education Allowance now, so that middle income earners can receive much-needed help with back-to-school costs. A Sinn F\u00e9in government would stand up for families hit by the cost of living crisis.\u201d
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Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West Se\u00e1n Crowe has said the government must do much more to support families across south Dublin struggling with back to school costs. Speaking after the Barnardos report was issued yesterday, Teachta Crowe said: \u201cLast month, Sinn F\u00e9in published a package of measures to cut back-to-school costs. This set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931","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=4931"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4936,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4931\/revisions\/4936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}