Parents say they are missing out on food in order to deal with back-to-school costs.

The children’s charity Barnardos has compiled the research.

It shows some households are leaving bills unpaid to ensure children have what they need for the new term.

Costs have remained stable or reduced slightly since 2011 but parents continue to struggle to meet schools’ demands with increasingly stretched household incomes.

On average parents are paying €355 for a child in senior infants, €390 for children in 4th class in primary school and €770 for children going into first year.

Barnardos has welcomed the Code of Practice agreed with school book publishers under which they have said they will try to avoid publishing new editions.

But it says parents are not seeing the benefits yet.

Barnardos Chief Executive is Fergus Finlay.

He says parents are living on the edge all the time.

He told Breakfast here on Newstalk that he would like to see free school books introduced as in Scotland.