One in four parents will be forced to deny their children basic school items in September.
The average back to-school outlay will be €1,209 per child, up from €1,185 last year, which is a 2% rise, according to a survey by the Irish League of Credit Unions.
It shows that 20% of parents with primary school children and 31% of those with children attending secondary school intend cutting items from the back-to-school list.
More than two-thirds say they cannot pay for extracurricular activities for their children and almost 40% say money is too tight to buy their children school shoes.
A third of parents will use saved money to cover school costs, but 4% say they will consider using a moneylender, a rise of 1% on last year.
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