To be pissed off that out of €624 I have €14 left.

[BumWiper]

Collected my child benefit this morning and after buying school books for 2DC I have ?14 left.
Which is earmarked for the tv licence.

The OP gets that much CHB because the cost of living is so much higher where she is, because there is no NHS provision where she is and she has to pay for all of her children's school books and stationary.

How far do you think that £575 would go if you had to pay £45 every time you took the kids to the doctor, then prescriptions were the actual cost of the medicine not a flat charge (or free if you're in walesor scotland)? Or if you had to pay £350 per child for school books each September? Or pay £5 every time you wanted your bins emptied? Or the ridiculous prices for food in Ireland.

It's not a fair comparison to just look at the amount of CHB the OP receives and say she is being unreasonable to complain that her CHB for 4 children only just pays for the books for 2, when over here the books are free for all.

For the last time I am annoyed about the price of the books.All bar two are workbooks so no chance of getting them second hand.

If anyone wants to swap places with me I'll gladly take my chances with the NHS,whilst you seem to haemorrage money to keep a zombie bank propped up.

Thank you hurricane,beautifully put.

For those who don't realise ? = sign for the euro.£ = sign for pound.

My Ds starts secondary school in september, his booklist
has cost me ?456 (four more books to buy in sept from the school
shop, no price given on these yet) ?180 for PE fees. ?120 registration
fees. His uniform came to ?167.
Good old rip off Ireland eh.

Dosen't it just make you feel good elmo.

A child missed her chance of a liver transplant this week because of an under resourced coast guard.Government jet was off on its travels with the president.

Now we best hope none of the kids gets sick this month.

Ah see I was living in blissful ignorance of the ''you will also need......''.

Oh shit I forgot the twistables and pritt stick.That the school specifically ask for.

No i haven't bought in any extra's yet just the books maryz
and the uniform i bought trousers & shirts in dunnes to cut back
on costs so the ?167 was just for his jumper, coat, tie and
scarf. The coat has a school crest on it and is the ONLY coat
his will be allowed to wear.
I will now have to stock up on sportswear for Pe.

Bumwiper - yes i read that earlier. Sickening isn't it.

Lol everyone i know with teenagers has told me the
Same the coat is Huge on him.
I drive ds & dd too as theres no bus routes to their
schools from where i live.

Ds's uniform colour will change once he finishes the junior cert
which means the coat will only do for his first 3 years.
Then he changes into the senior colours for leaving cert.

I think it is important to remember though that, even with the costs of books, contributions and twistables, Irish schools still offer a very good education across the board without fees.

There are no 'private' schools in Ireland, the fee paying ones are part of the same independent school system as, for example, CBS or 'nun run' schools. And there is no real evidence to suggest that fee paying schools in Ireland provide a better education , although the networking would be useful if you fancy a career in finance or at the propping up the UCD bar

However, having lived in the UK, I think schools there are hit and miss depending on where you live . I can understand why many parents there might opt to sent their children to fee paying schools but would have nightmares if I had to come up with that sort of money for my four. My childrens' allowance wouldn't make much of dent in bill.

lmao theres a post further back in the thread about someone phoning the school here asking about the book and copy list I done that too when my lad started school here ( I also avoided registering with the doctor when I first came here because I couldnt afford to pay him )
my mam had sent 500 euro to help cover the costs of school we where shocked when we found out that it was actully free
when I went to secondary school we had a book loan scheme mam paid the school 200 euro for both me and my brother and they provided books it was a hell of alot cheaper than having to buy all the books we needed I remember I was pulled out of that school after my junior cert and sent to a different school the cost of the uniform and books crippled my mam but she still managed to find an extra 600 euro on top of that so I didnt miss out on the school trip everyone else had paid for the year before
it makes me greatful sometimes when others are whinging about the cost of uniforms and the state of the NHS how lucky we actully are for these things

I was talking to my sister about this thread this evening. She told me that the Junior school DN is going to in Sept has changed it's uniform to a plain navy tracksuit or the plain jumper and grey school trousers (with no emblem).

There are obviously some schools who are aware of costs. The bookbill and other costs haven't changed though.

amicissima, it was an off the cuff remark but does cut more deeply. I have heard a lot of comments directed at Ireland/Irish people calling them spendthrifts and such. It's gladdening to hear that not everyone thinks the whole country was buying new cars and houses left right and centre!

I agree elliephant that education is pretty standard across the board in Ireland whereas it's very variable here in the UK. That's my one worry for my DS - schooling here will be a lot cheaper but not necessarily better.

Completely sympathise, our oldest started school last year and I had a similar thread on here complaining about the costs, her books came to €88 (again mostly workbooks so I couldn't pass on to my nephew who's now starting), uniform came to €70. Stationary, bag, lunchbox etc came to €50(ish), €20 for photocopying, €20 for art. (not counting all the costs for speech and drama, school trips, dance, external pe etc which came later), €150 to the "voluntary contribution". That's €400 just to send her to school - can u add that she was 4 at the time .

It's all well and good to point out that cb is high here but it nearly puts even a slight dent in the cost of raising a child here. As already pointed out, the medical expenses are insane, 2 of my dc were sick in January for instance - GP costs for both: €100 prescriptions: €42.50, very hard when you're completely skint and have to lie awake thinking how on earth you can pay to get your dc to the doctor. This isn't down to to frivolous family planning though, as previously pointed out - no one (obviously) foresaw this or at least, expected the level of cuts. I know dh and I never expected our wages to be cut so significantly (two public sector workers - down hundreds per month) whilst the cost of living continues to be so high. Many relied on cb too - I worked out yesterday that with the early childcare supplement and cb, we would have been in receipt of €785 per month for our 3 (because they are all under 6) but, with the cuts, we now receive €445

Sigh.....

Apologies for rubbish spelling etc, am on phone......

Re the uniforms - the cost here in the UK tends to much lower too as uniforms tend to be generic navy/blue/white pieces that can be bought for nothingpence at Tesco. When I went to secondary in Ireland my uniform had to be bought from a specialist shop that charge 60 Irish pounds (pre-euro) for a blazer. It was ridiculous.

Is there any kind of regulation as to what schools can charge?

Barbie I was asking my mam the other day how much she was cut by and she couldnt tell me but we worked out that now shes earning what I earnt doing the exact same job there 11 years ago!!!
My dad was told a couple of weeks ago that he isnt entitled to sickness benifit anymore because hes been getting it for two years wtf??? hes got an incurable sickness he will never be able to work again hes appealed and he been told it could take up to 4 years for the case to even be looked at
my dad is 56 he worked and paid tax every day of his life since he was 15 My mam has worked for for the southern health board for 35 years and this is how they are being repaid by the government they are considering selling up and moving here what they sell their house for would buy them 2 houses here

"£624 for four is impressive, it's a bloody lot."

feel for you all "down south" as we notherners say :)

just back from a few days and the prices are beyond comprehension

it actually got to the stage where i just had to laugh at a 50 euro bill for coffee and snacks (there were only 5 of us, literally just 5 drinks, a couple of rounds of sandwiches, couple of bowls of soup and a couple of tray bakes)

so expensive

?624 EURO big difference to £ .

maryz yes his uniform Jumper , Coat , Tie & Scarf will all change colour once he goes into 4th / 5th year . Trousers are the only part of his uniform that won't change .