Schools press parents for voluntary payments

Parents are being pressured into giving schools hundreds of euro in “voluntary” contributions because the Government is failing to give the facilities the money they need to survive.

The latest Dáil education and social protection committee meeting was yesterday given the blunt warning by parents’ groups, which said families feel they are being used as “fundraising” cash cows.

Speaking during a debate on a back-to-school costs report by the cross-party group, National Parents Council Primary and National Parents Council Post-Primary officials said families are regularly put in situations where they feel they have no option other than to pay the “voluntary” charges.