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THE AVERAGE BACK-TO-SCHOOL spend has increased again, from €1,185 per child last year to €1,209 this year.
This is according to the latest survey from the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) which found one in four parents will have to deny their children some back-to-school items this year. Of those who said this, almost four-in-ten say they can’t buy their children new school shoes.
Extracurricular activities, gym gear and school trips are also items that will be cut from the list as parents struggle to cope with costs, the ILCU said.
Almost three quarters of parents continue to see the back to school spend as a financial burden and more than a quarter say the costs will negatively impact household bills. Some 29% say they will get into debt funding the back to school spend, though this is a 2% drop on last year.
The survey found 7% would use the credit union while just 1% would approach the bank. And 4% said they would use a moneylender – up slightly on 2016.
Of those who said they would have to borrow, the average amount borrowed also dropped slightly – down from €357 last year to €345 this year. The majority of parents continue to believe that Irish schools do not do enough to support them in helping to keep costs down.
The average spend per primary school child has increased by €81 since last year to €1,048. The survey does note that campaigns to bring down the price of school uniforms appear to have paid off, with a fall of 21%, or €39, in the cost of uniforms since last year.
There was an increase (from 38% last year to 43%) in numbers saying they would sacrifice spending on family holidays this year because of school related costs. And 11% said spending on credit cards and food will be cut in order to manage these costs.
The vast majority of parents – almost three quarters – say they will be paying a voluntary contribution this year.
“It is somewhat encouraging to see that more parents than ever are funding the back to school spend through their monthly income, with a fall in the numbers getting into debt. However, it’s clear that the back to school spend is still so much of a financial burden on parents that they are forced to deny their children some basic items, as well as sacrifice spending on family holidays and even food,” said ILCU head of marketing and communications Emmet Oliver.
While the rise in numbers using moneylender was marginal, we would find any increase like this concerning and would really encourage parents to instead talk to their local credit union, where interest rates are fair and capped by law.
“We would also urge parents to set a budget for the back to school spend, and if they need assistance with this to also contact their local credit union for guidance. Planning and budgeting ahead for a yearly spend, such as back to school, can go a long way to helping you spend within your means, avoid financial stress and ensure that you don’t get into unnecessary debt,” he said.
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How a pharmaceutical company think can justify those prices is crazy. I appreciate millions goes into research and development for these drugs but putting a price tag of €150,000 per patient per year? This is nothing short of extortion! Give people living with CF a chance of a better life, they’ve struggled enough as it is.
@Shane Cusack:
Billions goes into developing these drugs.
@Roibeard and your point being.
@ shane its called greed. The World is just Greed today. And this is nothing to what can happen in the next 20 years maybe sooner. No P R S I everyone will have to have private medical ins. No dole ( that could be a good thing for those who never worked in their life or for a few years) we are becoming like America and the Rich get richer and poor get poorer.
Again. Why are we not raising this issue I.e. the fact that as a small country, we are being scrxxxd by pharmaceutical companies, with the EU and benefiting from economies of scale associated, we could call it a common health policy or are common EU actions confined to agriculture and fisheries?
Actually Ireland is a major beneficiary of the pharmaceutical companies. It’s the European headquarters for alot of big pharma companies
The public should realise this is not just a CF orkambi problem. We are all faced with the reality of this problem if we become sick and depend on compassionate access programs or drug trials for our treatment, a company will not supply drugs indefinitely if they do not see themselves getting a market share at some stage in future. Yes the drugs work for a percentage of patients and when it does it’s an amazing chance at a good quality of life for the patients, but it will not work for everyone that is reality how do you balance the cost of a drug against its effectiveness that’s where NCPE come in to play, we are lucky some countries don’t even have a HTA system in place, and their governments don’t provide any drugs for often terminal conditions, our system isn’t perfect but neither are any of them I have seen throughout Europe. This year in a media storm a new drug was refused for malignant melanoma patients and the minister pleaded for extension of the compassionate program from BMS that extension ended since august no newly diagnosed patients have received it since then, in November a second drug approval of a combination therapy for melanoma patients was refused also because of the price submitted this is by far the best treatment to date for advanced melanoma , this is not a CF problem this is a international drug pricing problem that effects many diseases and as an advanced stage Melanoma patient I am deeply upset it’s being portrayed as one drug on disease problem
no price should be put on a life.
Simple statements from simple people…
I didn’t mean to simplify a complex issue into a 5 word platitude, but sometime that’s all you need to say everything that needs to be said.
Well except I’d that price Costs others. To pay the half a billion price tag to supply this. Which hospital would you close?
Martin no price should be put on a life: but we do. The health budget is 16 billion per year or thereabouts. That’s the price we put on the health of the nation. If Orkambi was a million per year per patient would you still pay it? Of course not. What about a hundred euro per year? In that case we wouldn’t be having the discussion. So clearly somewhere in the middle there is a cost point where we say the benefit is not worth the cost. Sociologists have worked out this as willingness to pay thresholds. In the U.K. It is something like 20,000 pounds ie the average person thinks that is a reasonable amount to pay for one quality of life year gained. Yes it is populist to say you can’t put a price on a life but we must and we do as resources are finite. It is a sad reality.
Martin, In theory I would agree with you but when our health service has a limited budget for drugs what else would you suggest? Bearing in mind CF is one of a spectrum of diseases which the Irish population need drugs/treatments for. How would you suggest the HSE priorities which drugs and purchases and for what diseases?
@Martin Ryan So Martin if a loved one was in a vegetative state but could be kept alive indefinitely at a cost of €50,000 a year or removed from life support at no cost apart from their death, which would you go for?
I presume you’d have to think about it and discuss it with your family and weigh up the cost/benefit aspects?
You would effectively be putting a price on life.
I keep thinking “origami” every time I see that name.
Ah a nice rehash of the article from yesterday, i will say again the patients themselves are the ones putting themselves into the position of being a bargaining chip as they want it paid at all cost.
How the hell can a functioning health service work if we have every niche group pushing for expensive drugs to be paid for. There really has to be a cost benefit analysis because we save a small group here and another and another and quite soon service overall get worse than they already are.
There is a cost benefit analysis they use Qlays quality life adjusted years it is how they assess if the drugs provide extra years that are lived with some quality of life for a patient this is what NCPE was set up to assess. They have deemed Orkambi and also the drugs I need as too expensive and as a patient who has done a lot of study on this even though I need the drugs I agree. We cannot sustain this kind of expenditure on drugs what about next year when the next drug comes along do we shout and demand that one too at whatever price pharma decides to put on it? The whole system is broken but if we are going to allow these companies to set up base here in our country to manufacture we should at least reap the benefits of what they produce instead of the drugs being exported to countries that are willing to pay whatever is asked we are happy to accommodate them for employment An tax returns even if those taxes are very much in their favour we need more in return we all contribute to collections for research into new treatments why don’t we see the benefit why do the shareholders and CEO gain while we suffer the system is broken from the bottom to the top so you can’t blame patients for becoming desperate and shouting because they feel no one is listening and time is running out
Functioning Health Service. Wat planet r u on ?
They should count themselves lucky that they even have access to drugs. There’s no cure for my disease and realistically there never will be. Gambling forced me to steal from my friends and family as well as star in gay adult movies and cheat on my partner with an underage girl (she showed me a picture of a Jaguar she said she drove so I presumed she wasn’t 15). I’m the real victim here.
There is a relatively small number of Irish people who need this drug to improve and prolong their lives.
Despite the high cost involved, in the context of the small number of people needing it, it would amount to a tiny minute fraction of the HSE budget. We are not talking about tens of users
Other European countries are buying the drug for their CF citizens.
It’s a cop out by the government/HSE to refuse to buy.
Correction ”we are not talking about tens of thousands of users”
Martin, there is around 1100 CF sufferers in Ireland, should all of them access this drug that accumulates to €176 million per year. Put into context Beaumont Hospital cost around €230 million a year to run. It’s not scare mongering to say smaller regional hospitals could be closed to pay for this one drug. There is finite funds, we need to manage them. It might sound inhumane but it is not financially viable to provide this drug. While it may benefit the 1100 patients, far more would suffer in the long run due to other service cuts
So, who wants to tell her she is wearing that face mask sideways?
She’s not.
Muppet
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