Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Back to school costs can be very high but the government has reacted by introducing a number of measures which have been welcomed.
Over 120,000 families, including many in Kilkenny, will this week receive an extra €100 in the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance to help meet the growing cost of sending children back to school at the end of August, Fine Gael TD, John Paul Phelan, has revealed.
“This payment will be made in respect of 220,000 children all over Ireland. We’ve also increased the income limits to benefit lone parents and have included Ukrainian families who have moved here due to the war.
“The payment will be made in two stages for those who receive their allowance. The original awarded amount will be paid this week, followed by the additional €100 payment per qualifying child next week.
“Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD, has announced that the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance will start to be paid from today. It will be a boost for many families who are definitely feeling the pinch as inflationary pressures continue to grow.”
The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance remains open for applications until September 30th. A total of €84 million has been secured for the scheme this year – an increase of €26 million.
In total, it is estimated that 151,000 families and 262,000 children will benefit from the scheme by the time it closes at the end of September.
This particular scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families towards the cost of school clothing and footwear. The scheme supported over 137,000 families with Back to School costs last year.
Minister Humphreys increased the allowance by €10 in Budget 2022, with additional changes to make more one-parent families eligible. As part of the Government’s €67 million back-to-school package announced last week, Minister Humphreys increased the allowance by €100 per child.
This means that for 2022, the total amount being paid for each qualified child aged 4–11 years will be €260 and the rate payable for each eligible child aged 12 and over will be €385.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
