Schools urged to use cheap uniforms

Schools must stop forcing hard-pressed parents to pay over-the-odds prices for their children’s uniforms — some of which cost up to 15 times more than less-expensive, generic brands.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, anti-poverty group St Vincent de Paul and the National Parents Council’s primary division, made the call after it emerged non-school specific uniforms can be bought for as little as €5.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, all three groups said the financial pressure on parents to buy the school-specific, crest-emblazoned clothes is too much in these economic times.