Irish Examiner view: It’s time to lead by example

‘Voluntary’ school contributions

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of schools pressing home the need for parents to make the 'voluntary' payment, and not always in a subtle manner. Picture: Larry Cummins

Disclosures yesterday about the impact on parents of ‘voluntary contributions’ to secondary school may surprise some, but for many parents those are more properly filed as grim confirmation than surprising revelations.

Yesterday we learned specifically that almost 90% of parents are cutting back or delaying spending in order to make those voluntary contributions, according to research by Grant Thornton on behalf of the St Vincent de Paul.