Quarter of households struggling with their bills

Families are struggling with household bills

- BY GRAINNE NI AODHA

AROUND a quarter of parents are struggling financially with the costs of raising a family, a survey found.

Parents were asked what they spend on groceries, and a quarter said they spend more than €200 a week, with 37% spending between €150 and €200.

Of the families who had accessed mental health supports, over half found them to be poor or terrible, while 45% of families who accessed special needs assessments said they were inadequate.

An online survey of 1,878 parents of school-going children across Ireland was carried out by Schooldays.ie, a resource for parents and educators.

It found that parents were concerned about mental health support, finances and children's access online.

Over a quarter of parents (28%) reported that their child had been assessed for specialist educational needs, with only 8% rating the assessment and support process as excellent.

Twenty percent of parents said the services were poor and a further 25% said they were very poor.

A similar percentage (28%) said their child has needed mental health services such as counselling or psychiatric support.