Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has stated that the huge back to school costs faced by families at this time are a disgrace and that the back to school rip off is continuing.

Crowe was responding to Barnardos recently published 8^th annual report on back to school costs that involved a survey of 1,104 parents. It found that parents are increasingly struggling to cope with the high cost of sending their children back to school.

Deputy Crowe said:

“The recent Barnardos report clearly shows expensive school costs have now become.

“Families are being crippled by this government’s austerity measures and budget cutbacks, and the last thing they should have to worry about is will they be able to afford to send their children to school.

“Parents are now being forced to cut back on other essential services or approaching money leaders who demand huge interest payments so that their children can attend school in September and receive an education. This is an absolute disgrace and the government needs to tackle these costs urgently.

“Barnardos reports states that on average parents are paying back to school costs of €350 for a child in senior infants, €400 for children in 4th class in primary school, and €785 for a child going into first year in secondary school.

“The cost of school books, uniforms and transport has spiralled out of control in recent years.

“74% of parents of primary school children and 97% of parents of secondary school children responded that they had to buy uniforms with the school crest on them, which greatly added to the cost.

“Parents were understandably highly critical of being forced to buy uniforms from an elite of selected producers and retailers who can charge exorbitantly high prices for items of clothing all because they come with a school crest.

“I am on record for having publicly called on the Education Minister Ruairí Quinn to pro- actively introduce measures to eliminate this school uniform racket.

“The issue of school books also needs to be looked into. This report shows that school books remain the single biggest back to school cost for parents, and that there is no consistency is book costs from school to school.

“Also the use of books requiring students to write answers into them means that these books cannot be passed onto other students at the end of the year.

“As we fast approach the new school term, this Barnardos Survey and its conclusions are a timely reminder of the financial cost and unacceptable strain being placed on many parents.

“It also highlights and provides clear evidence that the Back to School Allowance is less than adequate to meet the growing expense of sending a child or children to School.

“The Minister Quinn needs to urgently act to introduce new initiatives to bring down the costs of sending children to school

“Meaningless words of support from Minister Quinn in previous years need to be turned into action. If not another year will have passed, without anything positive being done about the annual back to school rip off.”

ENDS