A dressing down for parents who moan about school uniform costs

At this time of year, every year, the media highlights the expense of children going back to school. It is expensive to raise a child, and there are issues in the system that could be looked at. But I can’t understand how people constantly say that there’s not “free education”.

Our country is in a bad way, but every child still gets €130 a month from government. This is taxpayer money and amounts to €1,560 a year, or €24,960 until the child is 16, or €28,080 until the child is 18.

It costs €1,000 a year to cover school costs for a young child. So, if you get €1,560 a year, that gives you €560 to spend on other things. You can’t argue that this doesn’t cover everything. There is also a back-to-school allowance. It’s a supplement.

People own their children and are responsbile for them, yet they seem to think everyone else should pay for them.

We all know families who moan about uniforms and school books, yet still manage to go on a three-week holiday, have satelliteTV, and their children have the latest computer tablets. So I think people need to prioritise. We want it all. I know people who go out socialising every children’s allowance day — out to the takeaway and the pub, spending their child’s money. I often go into places and say “it’s busy” and they say “oh, it’s children’s allowance day”. Children’s allowance isn’t meant to pay for mortgages, or other things like that. And if you are desperate and need to spend it on that, then you can’t really complain about the system. And then there are people who are lucky enough to save all the children’s allowance for college funds.

Most people can’t do that, but the ones who can have at least recognised what the allowance is for: the child.

I’m not talking here about people in dire needs. A lot of people are in trouble. But, I think, the argument needs to be fair and balanced. Children’s allowance is a great benefit to every parent in the country, yet few seem to acknowledge that. The government could scrap it for non-social welfare people and put it into hospitals, etc.

We want cheap food and run to the cheap supermarkets and then bemoan the loss of our local shop.

Yet, we are doing the same thing to school-uniform manufacturers. We have good-quality uniforms made in Ireland, and we want cheap ones from China to put on our children, because “it’s good enough” is it?

I grew up in the ’80s, during the last recession. It was tough, but my parents never moaned about our school costs.

We had good uniforms and new shoes and new books. We had lower children’s allowance and fewer holidays, few take aways, no gadgets etc, on which to waste money. So, if you do have it all and still moan about the lack of free education, imagine it all without the £1,560 a year.

Elaine Summers

Tower

Blarney

Co Cork