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

Children's charity, Barnardos, compiled the research, which 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-euro for a child in senior infants, 390-euro for children in 4th class in primary school and 770-euro for children going into first year. 

Barnardos has welcomed the Code of Practice agreed with school book publishers - under which they've said they will try to avoid publishing new editions - but says parents aren't seeing the benefits yet. 

Barnardos Chief Fergus Finlay says parents are living on the edge all the time - he'd like to see free school books introduced, as in Scotland.