Parents are facing costs of nearly €800 to send their child to secondary school according to a survey.

The annual Barnardos school costs survey released today shows parents are spending €340 to send a senior infants pupil back to school.

However, that cost rises to €775 for a first year pupil in second level.

These figures only take account of basic costs such as clothing, footwear, books, resources and voluntary contributions.

Head of Advocacy with Barnardos June Tinsley has said all of these costs add up.

“Especially if you have more than one child through the schools system it certainly is sending parents into debt,” said Tinsley.

“Parents are having to forgo other household bills, juggle household budgets and again parents are expressing a huge amount of anger and frustration that not enough is being done to invest wholeheartedly in the education system.

“And that there’s an expectation as a result that parents will foot the bill.”

You can read the survey in full here.