Time for Government to make 'free education' free, says Barnardos

Barnardos says it would cost just €103m to ensure each primary school child gets a truly free education.

The children's charity is launching a campaign today to persuade the Government to find the funds to pay for primary schooling.

There are more than half a million primary school pupils in the country, with parents spending hundreds every year for books, transport, voluntary contributions to the school, and classroom resources.

Barnardos chief Fergus Finlay says the costs facing parents every September are frightening.

"The figures are actually scary - it's €345 for a child in senior infants, to equip a child properly to start in senior infants," he said.

"€380 for a child in 4th class, €735 euro - roughly speaking - to start a child in secondary school.

"And that's if you've only one child - if you've two or three in the family, it's not hard to spend €1,000 on 'free' primary education."