St Vincent de Paul is receiving 30 calls an hour from parents unable to meet back to school expenses for this academic year.
The charity reported that increasing amounts of parents require assistance due to inflation, with about half of all calls coming from single parent families. The most commonly raised concerns include anxieties over paying for food and electricity bills alongside school costs due to the increased cost of living.
Rose McGowan, the national president of St Vincent de Paul, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that use of the charity’s services went up by about 20 per cent over the month of August. She says that their helpline has been “inundated” with calls and that families are under immense pressure.
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“We had 190,000 calls last year but we are already at 110,000 this year and we’re only finishing August. Someone may phone us and say they are struggling with back to school. It soon becomes clear during a house call that they’re struggling with back to school costs because of other issues, such as food and energy poverty,” Rose told RTÉ listeners.
Linda O’ Sullivan, a single parent of two children and special needs assistant, told Morning Ireland listeners she had spent around €1,600 on books and uniform costs this year. She says the burden on one parent families is particularly heavy.
“It’s an exceptional amount of money for any parent, but it’s particularly heavy when you’re parenting alone. This has been the hardest year in terms of paying these costs that I’ve ever experienced,” she reveals.
Rose went on to add that children themselves are feeling the strain of the burden, not just parents. Many children feel anxious about not being fully equipped for the coming academic year. Parents are sometimes being forced to accommodate one child’s costs at the expense of another.
“No parent wants their child to be different. Children are often within hearing distance during house calls and say that they can’t go to school if they don’t have their tracksuit. We’re stressing them as well and every child needs to feel they’re the same as everyone else. That just isn’t the case,” Rose adds.
Energy costs in particular look set to impact struggling families further in the months ahead following an announcement from Electric Ireland about gas and electricity. Electricity bills are set to rise by a shocking 26.7 per cent from next month onwards due to increases in international prices, while gas is expected to go up by 37.5 per cent.
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