Back-to-school costs - Ireland’s rich image is sheer hypocrisy

THE deep-seated inequities of Celtic Tiger Ireland are once again evident as the soaring cost of school uniforms, books and other essentials is in danger of putting so called “free education” out of the reach of thousands of needy families.

Last year, a record 79,000 families sought financial help from Government to send their children back to school. And with prices continuing to soar in rip-off Ireland, many risk being priced out of the education system altogether.

Frankly, it is depressing that tens of thousand of kids, those who should benefit most from schooling, are being denied equality of opportunity because of their parents’ economic status, or rather the lack of it.

Indeed, the real picture is probably worse than the figures from the Department of Social and Family Affairs suggest, as thousands of eligible families are failing to apply for help.

To be fair, it is not the department’s fault. Inexplicably, while most of those on welfare are covered by the scheme, many low-income families are falling through the net.

As an official explained, “for whatever reason, and despite our efforts to increase awareness of the scheme every year, people are still not applying”.

Last year, the bill for sending a child to primary school came to around €1,100. Undeniably, the rising cost of sending children to school reflects the deeper problems at the heart of this country’s rapidly escalating poverty crisis.

For many struggling families the prospect of facing exorbitant bills for books and other essential equipment is mind numbing.

Books are so expensive that the Department of Education is providing €12.9 million in grants to help parents of children in primary and second-level schools, up from €11 million last year.

In addition, families also face soaring bills for childcare, now rising even faster than house prices for young families, according to the Central Statistics Office.

From a low of 63,714 families who received the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance five years ago, the number had rocketed to 70,577 by 2004 and jumped a further 12% to 79,107 last year.

Nationally, around one-in-seven households with children of school-going age are now availing of the scheme.

With children preparing to return to school next month, more than 80,000 families are in dire straits.

Thus, a compelling case exists for extending the clothing and footwear allowance to all families in receipt of the family income supplement.

Doubtless, this scenario will lend weight to Labour’s launch today of measures designed to alleviate the burden of education expenses for those on low incomes.

In its remedial package, the party proposes to increase both the basic back-to-school allowance, as well as other supports including grant aid towards books, footwear and school meals.

Operating at the coal face of this national emergency, the Society of St Vincent de Paul estimates it will dole out €4 million this year to prop up families around the country struggling to meet the crippling cost of books, sports gear and other expenses. In a sign of the times, its aid programme has doubled since 2002.

This bleak scenario exposes the sheer hypocrisy of Ireland’s PR image as one of the world’s richest economies. That scenario may be true for some, particularly the multi-millionaires who are still paying no tax to the Exchequer.

But the grim reality is that searing inequities are painfully endemic in an Ireland where tens of thousands of vulnerable families are mired in grinding poverty.