School's are being forced to raise parents voluntary contributions because the Government is failing to commit to a Minor Works Scheme, Fianna Fáil has claimed.

Education Spokesperson Charlie McConalogue is calling on the Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan to confirm without further delay whether or not the Minor Works Grant will be available to schools in the autumn.

He said: "The Minor Works Grant provides essential funding to schools to allow them to operate on a day to day basis. Schools have been denied this basic funding for two out of the last four years, and once again this year there is no budgetary provision for the scheme in the autumn.

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"The result is that schools planning for the next academic year are being forced to increase the voluntary contributions asked of parents in order to just keep their schools running. This means significant increases in back to school costs for parents.

"A new survey from Barnardos shows that many parents are struggling with soaring back-to-school costs. So called 'voluntary contributions', added to the cost of books and uniforms, place an unreasonable burden on parents. Without the Minor Works Grant, schools are losing an average of €52 per pupil."

(CD/MH)