Overseas school trips are putting unnecessary financial pressure on cash-strapped parents, Social & Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin claimed today.
The former teacher said parents with children in a secondary school in south Dublin had recently been asked for a deposit for a forthcoming excursion costing €1,300 in total.
Ms Hanafin said students should be taken on less expensive trips to attractions such as museums in their general localities.
"Kids are going home feeling under this pressure and parents who don't have as much money as they had are nearly afraid to admit it," the minister said today.
She added: "Everybody knows there are pressures out there.
"I never brought a school trip abroad because there was enough to see in the country. The money that could go on a foreign trip could buy you dozens of trips around the country.
"If you get pupils to get on the bus or the train to something, it would be much more inclusive."
She confirmed the school which contacted parents about the school trip was in south Dublin and suggested that this situation may be typical of other areas.
"It could be happening anywhere," she explained.
Ms Hanafin was speaking at the launch of a report by Combat Poverty Agency calling for a national strategy to help households falling into debt.
However the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (Asti) said many schools are being forced to curtail extra curricular activities such as school trips due to funding cutbacks.
Asti said a €100 annual grant for each transitional year student was abolished in October's Budget.
Other funding for materials for Home Economics, Physics and Chemistry classes were also hit.
A recent Asti survey of 20 schools across the country found 15 of them said they would be curtailing extra-curricular activities in coming months and would be seeking higher voluntary contributions from parents.
A spokeswoman said: "I don't think many schools will be doing school trips this year because of financial constraints.
"Obviously trips in a foreign country have an important language and cultural exchange element which doesn't apply to trips around Ireland."
PA