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A QUARTER OF parents are getting into debt in order to cover the costs of sending their children back to school.
Over 1,000 parents took part in a survey by i-Reach Insights for the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU), which found that the overall spend on school items is up for both primary and secondary schools despite children being home-schooled for the early part of the year.
Parents are now spending €1,491 per secondary school child, up €24 on last year, while the cost of sending a primary school child to school is up €63 at €1,186.
The average debt parents find themselves in to send their child back to school is €336. Three-quarters have debts of over €200, while 21% have debts over €500.
The top expense for parents of secondary school children is books at €211, up from €196 last year. For primary school parents, the top expense is extracurricular activities at €178, up from €167 last year.
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Parents also reported that 71% of schools are still seeking ‘voluntary contributions’.
In order to cover the back to school costs, 68% of parents use their monthly income. 36% rely on their savings, up 2% on last year, while those using a credit card has fallen 3% at 17%.
Nearly two-thirds of parents believe that schools don’t do enough to help keep the costs down.
The survey also found that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on families has been profound, with 70% of parents reporting that the mental health of their household has been affected.
65% of parents also said that that home-schooling and lockdowns had a negative effect on their child’s overall educational performance.
The extra cost of the pandemic was also felt by parents. 35% said the extra cost of feeding children when home-schooling had the biggest effect on household finances, while 22% said spending on laptops and tablets had the biggest effect.
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Perhaps I’m being unduly cynical ‘…but the business had taken the difficult decision due to struggles around “paperwork”…’ makes me wonder if there’s more to this closure than we’re hearing about.
@Paddy Whelan: there’s also owners are in their 70s now paperwork is a chore probably HSA HACCP paperwork staff paperwork then tax suppliers debtors etc all paperwork and then be expected to go do a few hours on top of that. Brian did say staffing was a frequent issue as the nature of the job isn’t for everyone if your the one dealing with the public “ Yourself “ can I have 6 chips 4 breast in bun 2 cheese and onion pies 2 battered sausages a curry. Your expected to recall all that then. The job would be fast paced.
@Nemethon: I don’t think recall would be an issue. Have you never worked in a late night venue like a bar, a chipper or a shop before? You’re bombarded with drunken orders yes, but you pick up the system if recalling the orders fairly fast, in 1 night really. That’s fast-paced but it’s not beyond the capability of most people. I wouldn’t say it is for most people as a job, but I don’t think recalling orders would be an issue.
@Nemethon: haccp might be a pain for businesses but it’s necessary when you hear of the horror stories found in food retail inspections, particularly take aways. If you don’t like it, don’t open a food business.
I just don’t understand the sudden closure. If there were difficulties why didn’t we hear about them? Why not keep going until Christmas? Why not try to sell as a going concern? Something odd here, to me at least.
(And while I am here, in my opinion there are other FAR nicer chippers in Cork. This place was running on it’s name and reputation, not necessarily it’s food. Was that part of the problem?)
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: 100% , I don’t know anything about the Chipper only what I have seen this week , but if it is so popular when not sell the business on as a going concern , makes no sense
What the h&ll is going on here, the amount of articles about a chipper in Cork closing. So what!?
I understand it was a famous chipper in Cork, it’s one chipper in one city in Ireland and I’ve seen at least 10 articles in the last week. Only in Ireland
@Thomas Berry: Irish “patriots” are too good for such a menial job. They think they are so much above that kind of work they prefer to draw welfare from the tax paying citizens.
The only 2 things you’d learn from the comments:
* A lot of begrudgery of coverage. If it was Leo Burdocks we’d have had a OB from the RTE news truck. News from outside the Pale gets a lot of giving out
* I didn’t think an article about an institutional chipper closing could have been twisted into anti immigrant or anti government sentiment, but I was wrong. They seem so efficient and organised at following from any mention of key politicians that you’d swear they’re organised for political gain…
Maybe the chipper was built with OPW money back in the day as well as cheap labour from ANCO. With all the investigations going on in Leinster House, the paperwork was just found.
@yourname: 9% vat rate but ultimately Lennox’s isn’t closing due to that the owners are shoving on hard to get staff paperwork is becoming a chore probably HSA and HACCP paperwork then increase in minimum wage doesn’t help the bottom line.
I get the faux incredulity regarding a local fast food joint closing in modern ireland and the intense hysteria caused by such news. My advice to you, go eat a potato pie…
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