SF/Labour row overshadows education debate

A prospective coalition between Sinn Féin and Labour would be called Guns ‘N’ Roses by lazy journalists, and if recent Dáil debates are anything to go by, relations between the two parties are as fractious as the band itself.

During a Dáil debate on reducing education costs, introduced by Labour’s education spokesperson Eoghan Kenny, Dublin Fingal West TD Louise O’Reilly remarked that Labour come up with its best ideas in opposition.

Speaking in the Dáil, the Sinn Féin TD remarked, “I was chatting to my dad as I was coming in and told him I would be debating this motion in relation to supports for parents this morning. He reminded me, of course, that it was Labour in government that cut those very supports.”

“Then again, those in that party do have all their best ideas in opposition, as we both remarked, and not for the first time I need not tell you.”

Labour TD Duncan Smith, during his contribution, took issue with what he called a “narrow, decontextualised view of Labour’s own record in education.” 

“To focus that lens on Sinn Féin, which held the education brief in Northern Ireland for 16 years, it was a time of multi-annual budget cuts, multiple fee and state exam increases and, indeed, redundancies of teachers and support staff,” he remarked.

The Dublin Fingal East TD said “the charge made against us was that we have our best ideas in opposition. Maybe the charge against Sinn Féin is that it has its best ideas in the South because its record in the North in education is nothing short of disastrous.”

Kenny said, “I am quite surprised by the contributions from some TDs in Sinn Féin, which holds the finance Ministry in the North of Ireland, where there is currently a €700 million shortfall in the Department of Education.”

Kenny holds the distinction of being among the youngest TDs in the Dáil (born in the year 2000), and the Cork TD remarked, “Sinn Féin come in here and have a go at Labour for something that happened 15 years ago, when I was in primary school and 11 years old.”

The actual substance of the motion, before it fell prey to classic left-wing infighting, had Kenny state “Labour believes opportunity should be determined by talent, effort and ambition, not by the balance in a parent’s bank account.”

“This debate comes down to one simple question: do we want an education system where every child has the same opportunity to succeed or do we want opportunity to increasingly depend on what their parents can afford?”

“Education should open doors; it should never open overdrafts,” he said.

Smith’s Dublin Fingal East stablemate, Sinn Féin TD Ann Graves, said “at this time of year and with the great weather we are having, families should be planning holidays or spending days at the beach or elsewhere; instead, for a growing number of families, this is a time of stress.”

“They are already worrying about the cost of their children going back to school in September,” she noted.

“On top of spiralling rents, mortgages and food and energy costs, they must also pay for school books, uniforms, school bags and shoes and make the so-called voluntary donation.”

Research from Barnados found that the average cost of digital devices for second level has reached €430, a rise from the pre-pandemic pricing of €221.

Dublin Central TD Marie Sherlock said, “talking about back to school feels like Groundhog Day with regard to school uniforms.”

The Dublin Central TD noted that single-parent families struggle with back-to-school costs, but there is very little help in sight from the government.

“It beggars belief that after years of budgetary surpluses, the at-risk of poverty rate and the deprivation rate continue to go in the wrong direction,” she said.

“It is shameful that with all the money being dished out, we are seeing a rise in the at-risk of deprivation rate among one-parent families.”

Sherlock noted that almost half of all one-parent families are still experiencing deprivation and there is a rise in the at-risk of poverty rate for two-parent families, with one in eight of those families experiencing deprivation. 

From the government/opposition/ambigious benches, Dublin Bay North TD Barry Heneghan said “many families are being told that they must now spend hundreds of euro on a Chromebook, laptop or other digital asset, and it is still not something that they can afford.”

“Over recent weeks, one parent told me that their school insisted that these were essential learning tools for every student because of the new Leaving Certificate curriculum, yet parliamentary questions that I submitted confirmed that there is no departmental requirement for students to have a personal digital device at either junior or Leaving Certificate level.”

The independent TD explained “that contradiction leaves parents and students whom I represent caught in a middle ground. On one hand, the Department is saying they are not mandatory and, on the other, schools are telling parents that they must purchase one.”

He said, “technology undoubtedly has an important role in education. I do not dispute that fact; I came through education while the technology was developing.”

“However, access to education or a curriculum should never depend on a family’s ability to spend several hundred euros on a particular device,” he said.