‘Staggering school expenses would help a lot’

THE financial difficulties faced by families putting children through school were highlighted by a mother-of-three at the Combat Poverty Agency conference.

The event was organised to discuss the stresses education costs were imposing on people in disadvantaged areas.

Mary (not her real name), from Tallaght in Dublin, has an eight-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy, who are both at primary school. Her 18-year-old daughter got more than 500 points in her Leaving Certificate, but dropped out of a college she started last autumn, preferring to work.