Cork, Ireland - The back-to-school period is a trying time for parents worldwide and as Ireland grapples with recession and rising unemployment, the concept of "free education" flies in the face of tight household budgets.

The daunting prospect of having to buy yet another school uniform for growing offspring, the soaring costs of school books, clothes and class equipment is dampening spirits as well.

A mother of two, Fiona Dobbin, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: "I have spent around 800 euros (1,180 dollars) so far on fitting out my children, aged 10 and six, for the next school year."

As Ireland's public financing continues to deteriorate, figures released last week revealed a record 74,000 increase in the jobless queues during August, the highest in 10 years. The government has brought forward the announcement of the 2009 budget to mid-October in a bid to boost consumer confidence.

It remains to be seen whether any monies will be set aside for education which is touted as "free". A study by the online parenting and teaching resource of Schooldays. ie for Bank of Ireland Life recently found that it can cost just over 60,000 euros to educate a child through to third-level standard not including creche fees.

Yet, 89 per cent of parents felt pressured to contribute to managing their child's school while 69 per cent spent additional funds on school supplies and fundraising events at least once a month.

Around 51 per cent of parents found schoolbooks the "most unnecessarily expensive part of children's education" which on average comes to 60 euros per child. These expenses were prompted by regular changes to school curriculum and when publishing houses release new, revised editions of schoolbooks which teachers insist their pupils should have.

It becomes impossible to pass on second-hand books to younger siblings. Meanwhile, 21 per cent value added tax charged on every book goes towards government coffers.

Unlike many European nations, schoolbooks in Ireland are not available through a library system such as those operated in Britain and most parts of Germany and when a child changes a class or leaves school, people are left with several outdated books unlikely to be used again.

Charities such as Barnardos and St Vincent de Paul are also sounding the alarm as one in five people seeking help are new callers. Figures show that in Dublin alone, the St Vincent de Paul organization received 40 per cent more calls between January and July this year over the same period in 2007.

Allowances provided by the Department of Social and Family Affairs for clothing and footwear were termed insufficient. More than 20 per cent of callers requested help in the form of food vouchers, a spokesman said, adding, "As far as we are concerned, it has to do with the freeing up of household income to cover other things such as electricity and gas." (dpa)