The Minister for Education has said she intends to give further funding to the school book rental scheme in the forthcoming budget.
Responding to the publication of a survey by Barnardos on back-to-school costs, Jan O'Sullivan said that she would not be able to invest the just over €100 million that the charity called for to help ease the cost of books, transport and fees at primary level this year.
But Ms O'Sullivan said she would be arguing very strongly in budget negotiations for further investment in education.
She said she understood and recognised that back-to-school time was an expensive one for parents.
Although she has no power to force them to, she said she would continue to try to persuade schools to move away from cresting and branding uniforms and that she would encourage parents to do the same.
She said that 94% of primary schools and 68% of secondary schools now have book rental schemes and this was an area she would continue to focus on to bring costs down.
The survey by Barnardos found that parents are feeling the strain when it comes to back-to-school costs.
The tenth annual School Costs Survey details the average costs of books, uniforms and voluntary contributions and indicates that many parents are taking out loans to cover the costs.
The survey found that back-to-school costs for first-year pupils at secondary school have increased by an average of €50 in the past year, to €785.
The average price of books has increased by around €25 and voluntary contributions now average €150.
One in ten primary school parents and one in five secondary school parents say they take out loans to cover the costs.
Barnardos said a Government investment of just over €103 million would ensure that every child has access to free primary education.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, CEO of Barnardos Fergus Finlay said: "Surely it is a no brainer to say that for a tiny, tiny investment of this kind - it's less than 1% of the total budget - we can finally in 2015 say that the constitutional right of every child to a free primary education is genuinely free."
The charity is also calling for more schools to avail of the school book rental scheme and to review uniform policies to relieve some of the pressure on parents.
National Parents Council Primary CEO Aine Lynch said in order to get parents and children fully engaged in the education system costs need to be taken away.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, she said she is concerned that voluntary contributions seem to be rising in schools and that they can define the relationship that parents have with their children's school as a financial relationship.
She said voluntary contributions are unique to each school, but some parents have said they feel under tremendous pressure to pay and the payment does not feel voluntary.
