Do the maths and this just doesn't add up..

Straight talking...

- LARISSA NOLAN

LET'S call a halt to the annual back-to-school costs scaremongering.

Every year at this time, surveys come out claiming it takes ludicrous sums of money to get a child back to class.

It’s total bollocks and we all know it. If it was so expensive, none of us would be able to afford it.

The fact is: sending kids to school is cheaper now than ever. We're lucky to have free education. Yet the charade rolls on regardless.

I've yet to see an actual real person stand up in public and say: yes, I'm shelling out a grand and half for each kid to go back to school every year.

Because that person does not exist.

Yet this is the figure the Irish League of Credit Unions puts on the new for each pupil - €1,450 for primary school kids and €1,560 for secondary schools.

CHARITY

Meanwhile, children’s charity Barnardos were out on cue this week saying it costs €725 for primary and €1,100 for secondary: also a complete overestimation.