Fund must be established to support families with costs as 1 in 4 secondary schools move to digital devices – Darren O’Rourke TD

New data reveals that almost 1 in 4 secondary schools require parents to purchase these devices placinf additional back to school burdens on hard pressed families.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Education and Youth, Darren O'Rourke TD, has called on the government to intervene and support families facing the cost of mandatory digital devices in so-called 'iPad schools', after new data reveals that almost 1 in 4 secondary schools require parents to purchase these devices.

The Department of Education confirmed to Deputy O'Rourke that from the 2024/25 school year, a new question was included in their School Data Collection Survey asking post-primary schools: “Are parents of children in your school asked to purchase or provide digital devices?. All schools responded, with 173 schools (36 DEIS and 137 non-DEIS) out of 722 answering ‘yes’ - meaning nearly a quarter of secondary schools are placing this financial burden on families.

Deputy O'Rourke said: "Parents across the state are being hit with eye-watering costs as more schools adopt mandatory ‘One-to-One’ digital device policies, requiring families to purchase iPads or laptops that can cost up to €800 per child. While the government boasts about free school books, it has abandoned these parents, leaving them to shoulder this massive financial burden alone.

"The minister’s response, that schools must manage this issue themselves, is utterly inadequate. The fact that almost one in four secondary schools now require parents to buy devices shows the scale of this crisis. Many families simply cannot afford these costs, and the government’s refusal to intervene is pushing them into financial hardship. Schools cannot be expected to solve this crisis alone. The minister must take responsibility and establish a dedicated hardship fund to support struggling families.

"The government’s €35 million ICT grant does nothing to help parents directly. It funds infrastructure, not devices for individual students, and despite the minister’s claims of ‘ongoing commitment’, parents are still being forced to pay hundreds of euros out of pocket.

"Meanwhile, the minister’s circular on reducing costs - urging schools to ‘consult parents’ and ‘seek generic devices’—is a toothless gesture that ignores the reality. Without financial support, many children will be left behind, or parents will be pushed into financial hardship.

"If the Minister is serious about equity in education, she must act now to establish a dedicated fund to subsidise device costs for families in need. It must happen.

"Parents are being failed. The minister cannot outsource her responsibility to schools. It’s time for real action, not more empty promises."