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EIGHTY PER CENT of parents are worried the costs of sending their children to school this September.
And new research on behalf of the National Consumer Agency also shows that 74 per cent of parents of children (in both primary and secondary school) are more concerned about back to school costs this year than they were last year.
Almost half (48 per cent) of those worried about the costs said that this was because their income was less than it had been the previous year.
Meanwhile, more than a quarter (26 per cent) of parents said they don’t budget for the new school year, and 49 per cent encounter ‘unforeseen payments’ such as school donations.
When it comes to school uniforms, nine out 10 parents think they should be able to buy uniforms and school crests separately, rather than having to buy them from a designated shop.
Education Minister Ruairí Quinn commented:
I know that many families are under severe financial pressure due to the economic downturn. I am committed to keeping costs down as far as possible for parents when it comes to school expenses.
He has met with parent groups, the St Vincent de Paul and educational book publishers to look at ways of reducing the cost of school books.
The NCA has launched a back to school budget planner to help parents plan and manage their spending.
Ann Fitzgerald, chief executive of the NCA said:
We are strongly in favour of primary and secondary school boards of management allowing parents to purchase the uniform and crest separately rather than in a designated uniform shop as this could lead to significant savings.
The budget planner and money saving tips are available here.
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Merkel and Sarkozy want Greece to survive if only because there have so much money buried into it.
If that wasn’t the case, I suspect their efforts on Greece’s behalf, would not be so vigorous.
In the end (understandable to an extent) they are looking out for their own country in the long run.
We would do similar.
That said, I still wouldn’t trust Merkel and Sarkozy as far as I could throw them. They are in each others pockets and out with their own similar agendas too much, that its leaving many in the rest of Europe very uncomfortable.
Hmm. Sarkozy is quite small. I’d say you could throw him quite a distance ;)
LOL – very good!
hrmm, did they say they believe this regardless of a default, or are they saying this to try to continue preventing a default, I wonder?
(honest question, btw, not sarcastic as it appears :))
Well Done Frau Ferkel..you managed to destroy European Union with the help of your little freund Sarkosy.
And the sooner the better. This EU thing is simply not workable. One organisation whose upper echelons advocate greater unity in order to secure better jobs for themselves, claiming to represent 27 countries with more than 40 different ethnic groups and about 50 different languages, with about 10 different religions, punctured with enclaves and exclaves, spread across 12 time zones with a “single currency” used only by 17 of the states with no common financial policy and massive discrepancies between wealth and poverty amongst the member states and within member states, with vastly differing ideas on what democracy actually means, with kings and queens and dukes and princes and presidents and chancellors…..
I’m surprised and gratified to find myself in agreement Brian, and you put it better than I ever could.. What was wrong with our economic community anyway?
In fairness Daithí, I think it was just on the one topic that our radically diverged. I think for the most part our ideas are pretty similar based on some of the comments you have made elsewhere. Indeed, what was wrong with the EEC? I don’t see how it couldn’t be expanded to include more countries without necessitating the erosion of national sovereignty and democracy.
Not surprising that they want Greece to stay in the Euro and not default. The Greeks owe the French banks over €45 billion that would make even Sarkozy’s eye’s water….
12 time zones? Really??
Yes, 12 time zones. French Guiana, as an overseas department of France, is situated on the South American continent. It is an integral part of the EU and is situated at UTC-3 (that’s 3 hours behind our time zone). French Polynesia, a special territory of the EU as well as being an overseas collectivity of France, is situated in the Pacific Ocean and is spread across three time zones: UTC-10, UTC-9:30 and UTC-9. Therefore, at its furthest extent West, the EU includes a territory situated at UTC-10. There are two possible candidates for furthest territory East: BIOT (British Indian Ocean Territory) located in the Indian Ocean which is at UTC+6 or Cyprus which is located at UTC+2. Therefore, depending on definition, the EU extends from UTC-10 to UTC+6 (17 times zones) or UTC-10 to UTC+2 (13 time zones). I originally stated 12, but I forgot about our own time zone of UTC±0! (As an aside, a little known fact is that technically Ireland is not located in the same time zone as the UK – the UK’s standard time zone is based on Winter time which is GMT. Ireland’s standard time zone is actually based on Summer time which is IST or Irish Standard Time. The UK adds an hour every summer to become BST or British Summer Time. We subtract an hour every winter to become WET or Western European Time. It’s simply incidental that the two happen to correlate – i.e. WET = GMT and IST = BST).
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