Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
MORE THAN ONE-third (36%) of parents in Ireland say they are getting into debt due to back-to-school costs.
This is an increase on the 29% of parents in the same situation last year, according to figures released by the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) today.
Parents of primary school children are, on average, in debt by €367 – up from €345 in 2017. For secondary school parents, the average debt reported is €443 – compared with €415 last year.
Some 67% of parents surveyed in the national study said back-to-school costs are a financial burden. Almost half (46%) said that costs are their biggest back-to-school worry, well ahead of concerns that children won’t settle in or make friends (15%).
Four in 10 parents said they are under pressure to buy branded goods and other items for their children. This figure was higher for parents of secondary school children with over half (54%) feeling the pressure, compared with 39% of parents of primary school children.
The number of parents saying they will be forced to deny their children certain school items has also increased – rising from 25% in 2017 to 31% this year. Of this group, four in 10 said they cannot afford new school shoes for their children, while seven in 10 said extracurricular activities will be cut from the budget.
Cutting back on food and bills
In general, just over a third of parents said they will have to sacrifice spending on family holidays to meet school costs. Just over one in five (22%) said they will have to cut spending on household bills and 15% said spending on food will have to suffer.
The study found, however, that overall costs have fallen somewhat since last year. Parents said they are spending €999 per primary school child, a €49 decrease on 2017.
For secondary school children, parents said the cost per child has fallen by €22 to €1,379. In general, the decrease was mainly due to a falls in the prices for extracurricular activities, transport and after-school care.
According to parents, the biggest spend for primary school children is again extra-curricular activities at €153 per child, followed by school lunches at €142 and after-school care at €140.
In relation to secondary school students, parents said the most expensive item is again books at €200, followed by uniforms at €179 and school lunches and transport – both costing €175 each.
Moneylenders
The ILCU said it’s concerning that of those parents in debt, more than a quarter (27%) said they have turned to a moneylender in an effort to cope with back-to-school costs. This is up from 20% last year.
Of the group in debt, three in 10 said they have borrowed between €400 and €500, while more than a quarter said they had borrowed over €800.
When asked why their preferred option was a moneylender, 46% of this group said they felt they would be guaranteed the money and that the approval processes in banks and credit unions would be more difficult.
Four in 10 parents (42%) said they felt they had no other option because they had a bad credit history. A significant number of people in this group (77%) said they will use a moneylender again this year to cover the back-to-school spend.
Almost seven in 10 parents (69%) said that schools are not doing enough to keep costs down, a decrease from 76% of parents last year. When asked how schools could do more to help in this regard, 32% said reducing the price of books or introducing a book rental scheme, and 22% said the option of generic uniforms or even free uniforms would help.
‘Unnecessary debt’
Commenting on the findings of the survey, Paul Bailey, ILCU Head of Marketing and Communications, said: “Despite the current recovery of our economy, families continue to struggle to cope with the cost of sending their children to school.”
Bailey said it’s “somewhat encouraging” parents are reporting that certain costs have reduced since last year, but at the same time there are “increasing numbers of parents saying they are in debt, and a rise in the numbers saying they are turning to moneylenders”.
He encouraged people to visit their local credit union to discuss their options “even where they feel they have a poor credit history”, rather than turn to a moneylender,
Bailey said moneylenders sometimes charge an annual percentage rate (APR) as high as 188%, based on figures compiled but the Central Bank. He said using them can “lead to a recurring cycle of unnecessary debt and irrational borrowing”.
A number of credit unions offer a Personal Micro-Credit Scheme or an ‘It Makes Sense’ loan which has been specifically designed to assist social welfare recipients who feel they have no option but to borrow from a moneylender. More information on these schemes can be read here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The Government really don’t care about the housing crisis and the impact it’s having on a whole generation. They have ripped the social contract to shreds in Ireland. Sooner they are kicked out of office the better, especially Fine Gael.
@Daryl Walsh: Couldn’t get a builder myself during COVID.
@zephyrum: We need to stop using excuses. As John Taffer says. “”I don’t embrace excuses, I embrace solutions.”
Our lot need to do better.
@Daryl Walsh:
Tell us where they are going to get the builders…
The Government don’t pay cash in hand..
@Jack Dermody:
Cash in hand comment is such a classic government apologist line.
Yea lets blame literally the only people building houses for the housing crisis.
The Irish government who pays 2 billion for a hospital has trouble finding builders??
Throw your vote in the bin come general election, it’s clear where its going.
@Jack Dermody: I have worked on many building sites over the years and know a fair few guys. And the number one thing that attracts workers is not pay, but a permanent job. All this bogus self employment has meant that a huge proportion of our workers have no reason to stay.or even come back. They may as well be working abroad than here week to week with no holiday pay and very few entitlements.
The government(s) have known about this problem for years and done nothing about it.
Apprentices, like medical staff, are gone as soon as they qualify
I’m sure it might suit some but if you want to keep people look at a long term building programme with secure jobs and you’ll get people.
@zephyrum: you couldn’t get a lot during covid….
@Jack Dermody: cut the social in half after 6 months.
There needs to be legislation to prevent these funds from being used to repurchase the 17,000 residences held by 10 corporations. The French people would not put up with so why do we?
There needs to be legislation to prevent these funds from being used to repurchase the 17,000 residences held by 10 corporations.
@Jimmy Donovan: we have become so accepting now to inept, immoral corrupt governments. The political system should be changed. People need to vote these lot out.
@Dave Barrett: and put the IRA in charge?
I think I’ll pass on that one.
@John Mulligan: maybe get your mentors in the FFG party to create the conditions to attract and retain people to the trades.
When there is a so called senior banker shortage Pascal is shouting for lifting their pay caps and reintroducing senior banker bonuses. But sure tha was always the FG way, now FF infected the same way.
@John Mulligan: Yawn yawn and more yawns..
So the question remains. How much DID they spend, and WHAT did they spend it on because it sounds like they done feck all in the last 100years never mind 3
I heard a builder say the problem overall are the sewage systems ..They do not have the capacity and it needs to be upgraded ASAP..to allow the building of more houses
@Marianne Sherlock: that’s certainly the case in my local area.
@Marianne Sherlock: that and the road network. I’ve seen particularly in Dublin large housing estates going up on narrow country roads which creates traffic havoc.
@Marianne Sherlock: there are no more houses allowed in my area until the sewerage system is upgraded.
Of course Ireland will need 50k new homes for years to come.
This is what happens when you needlessly vote for the same two right wing laissez faire capitalist parties over an over again.
Stop voting for self-harm.
That is a lot of money!
None of this makes sense!
Emergency powers should be used and that money should be spent.
@Michael Mc Gee: no emergency power You are playing into their hands
The whole thing is manufactured. The evidence is there. they did everything possible to create the problem, now is the reaction stage, the solution that will be offered will be the erosion and debasement of Article 43/ private property rights. They need enough people on the edge in dire situations to push that objective through. All deliberate, we are being played folks.
@Peter John McDaid: what is the ultimate goal of your conspiracy?
@Peter John McDaid: The right reaction would be to hand hang them outside the Dáil by the neck as a lesson to those that come after them.
@Craic_a_tower: It is clear to anyone with a modicum of intelligence that the govt created this situation. Undermining article 43 is the objective. Old couple that own and live in a three or four bedroom house, CPO them out. People that worked hard and own a second home, CPO it off them. The “greater good” etc.
@Peter John McDaid: it is weird how people look at the same details and come up with a different theory. Some think politicians are forcing house prices for their personal benefit while others think it so they will lose rights to their own property. Very strange thoughts given incompetence and populist policies explain it much more simply
@Peter John McDaid: Certainly Ireland could do with more townhouses so that people could afford to buy their own smaller homes. Okay to have theories but plenty of people would voluntarily move to smaller local homes if there were any available. No need to imagine dramatic scenarios.
How do you build during a lockdown?
@Emmet Murphy: Also how can you build if you haven’t enough construction workers?
@Emmet Murphy: Swear it wasn’t government that put us into lockdown
@Daryl Walsh: I’d say it was the pandemic, swears…
@Aidan Farrell: The question is how did a labour shortage ensue when one in four men in Ireland were working in construction until around 2009-10?
@Seamus Enright: the older generation were prepared to do manual work, today’s are more into third level and I.T ,how many apprenticeships do you hear of nowadays.
@Mark Sheehan: A pure waste of time working for free though Mark. Pay apprentices a decent wage and they will appear.
@David Corrigan: They should get paid a bit more than 80-90% of minimum wage alright though you don’t get paid anything for studying in University so the comparison is a bit invidious, particularly when you could still end up with less money after getting many college degrees.
Mind you, there seems to be plenty of labour to build hotels and we bend over backwards to allow companies like TikTok to build data centres because here because of all the construction jobs they provide, which I find the most bizarre thing of all.
@Emmet Murphy: Ireland had record homelessness BEFORE the pandemic.
You handily ignore that.
@Seamus Enright: A little thing like the property bust stopped building completely and many of the workers retired, emigrated or changed jobs to different sectors. It will take many years to get the employment numbers back to those levels. The only current way to increase the workforce is bring in foreign operatives which is not easy given our expensive accommodation and taxation system !!!!
@Chris Gaffney: With all the unemployed builders around at that time the government could have invested in public housing but they seemed to think that paying off 34% of Europe’s overall banking debt was a better idea.
The FFFG government has probably done this so as they can use the money to buy the election when it comes around.
24,000 homes built is more than enough houses for 11,754 people homeless. What am I not getting?
@Keith Twamley: Well the fact that there are thousands of people still living at home with parents, wanting to rent or buy that are not included in homeless figures, is just one thing you’re missing.
@Daryl Walsh: Numbers just constantly going up though, something doesn’t feel right. Needs to be a lot more transparency as to where all these houses are going.
@Keith Twamley: Those homes are being snapped up in bulk by the vulture funds Keith. They leave very little for the citizens to buy.
@Daryl Walsh: Garden sheds as a spare sitting room to have breathing space while saving up for a mortgage?
@Keith Twamley: by all accounts Ireland needs 50k new builds a year and HAS needed about that number for a decade…. But when you care more about landlords than any other voting block, supply and demand dictates you don’t worry so much about supply.
@Mise Eire: The trouble is that people do need to use a toilet and you can’t add one to a garden shed! They will be uninsulated as well.
Yet last week shovel ready school building projects were told they are halted due to budgetary constraints. In a week where corporation tax take is over a billion more than they thought and Darragh O Brien has a billion behind the couch, WTAF is going on here? Infuriating stuff.
No builders available? All I’m seeing is apartment block after apartment block spring up all over the place!
@Tony Harris: Agreed, and every affordable apartment has to pay maintenance fees into the bargain instead of doing their own.
How does this Country operate, when our planning/political/environment is in the toilet? As long as we keep the old parties like FF/FG/L/SF in existence and keep voting for them. We will never reach our potential, to be a great Country and where most things work properly. If it wasn’t for the EU, Pakistan would be in a better place than we are now.
All those modular homes that could have been built on state land,while eviction ban was in…..fast tract building…mindboggling.
Frightening how poorly informed the comments are , and how so many seem to have completely succumbed to populism. The next gov will be dealt the exact same hand and will also disappoint you . Why? Because the construction ecosystem has become impossiblly difficult (for Ireland & most other European countries) with some factors well beyond the control of governments. But hey, dont let a fact or two interrupt your rants.
@Paul Duffy: Ah don’t spoil their fun!!
@Paul Duffy: A fact or two? What fact or two? You haven’t given any, just criticised other posters.
“€1 billion left unspent by Govt on housing projects over the past 3 years” plus the massive amount of extra/additional overspend of Euro’s the cash cow to developers that is the new national hospital is costing….€1 billion is equal to 2,800 building units costing €350,000 each to build from scratch to completion. €350,000 spread over let’s say 30 years equals to €11,666 per year or just over €970 per month. This figure is way way below the average rent paid by tenants to private landlords. Now if the Govt became landlords and spent €1 billion on 2,800 housing units they would receive €2.7 million per month in rent.
have your say