The cost of equipping a child for secondary school can be as much as €1,200 and the cost for a primary school child can come to €1,100, according to a survey published by the Labour Party today.
The survey, "Back to School: The Financial Burden on Families", which Labour undertakes annually, shows that the average cost of textbooks for a primary school is €95 while the figure for a first year secondary pupil is €420. Extra costs such as photocopying, sports, music and computers can often exceed €100.
The majority of schools now also ask parents to make a "voluntary contribution". Although the Department of Education has no statistics on how many schools operate such a scheme or the sums that they request, Labour estimates that the average cost of such a contribution is €70 for a primary pupil and €120 for a child attending secondary school.
Speaking at the launch of the survey, Labour Party spokeswoman on education Jan O'Sullivan said that the results of this year's survey show a marked increase in these costs and the burden they can place on low-income families.
Calling for a significant increase in both the eligibility limits and the amounts paid in the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance and in the other supports, Ms O'Sullivan said that the "limited" supports currently provided by the State are "totally inadequate" and "have failed to keep pace with the dramatic increase in costs".
"The amounts payable under the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear allowance have not increased since 2003. In addition, the income qualifying limits have been increased only marginally so that all but those on the lowest incomes are excluded," she added.
Labour Councillor Aodhán O'Riordain, a teacher in St Lawrence O'Toole's National School in Dublin's Sheriff Street, proposed that book rental schemes, which allow pupils to rent books from the school for a year and return them at year end, should be put in place in all schools.
"The department must be aware that the very regualr changes that are made to school curricula and standard texts, and the new textbooks that are required each year, make extreme demands on all families," he said.
Attending the launch with her two young children Liam (6) and Kyra (4) decked out in full uniforms, Val Costello from Tallaght said that meeting the cost of the new school year would prove very difficult.
"We started paying in May this year. It's hard at times and some weeks we have to try to do without things when we're saving," she said. "I don't know what we're going to do next year when we'll have three going."