The National Parents Council for primary school children says this autumn is shaping up to be the most expensive ever for the families of those returning to the classroom.
It's calling on the Government to scrap the practice of Voluntary Contributions which parents pay to run their respective local schools.
The fees per household can range from €200 to €400 per school year.
Áine Lynch of the National Parents' Council says the process is grossly unfair particularly for parents who have more than one child at primary school.
"The cost of living crisis that we're currently experiencing adds to the pressure that families are current;ty under with back to school costs.
"There are a number of costs around that that come around at the same time. Parents often have more than one child, so it's multiplied by the amount of children they have.
"It really is becoming a significant issue for parents."
Cork TD Donnchadh O'Laoghaire is the Sinn Féin spokesperson on education.
He is totally opposed to the practice of parents paying voluntary contributions to run schools.
He says the Department of Education needs to do an audit on how much money is being donated and how much is required to keep the lights on in our school system.
"Schools where they are asking for voluntary contributions, account for what they're spending, That will allow us to identify what is the shortfall, how much are schools short, and we know that schools are short in terms of their funding.
"How much do they have to fundraise to keep the lights on? Then we can fill hat gap and reduce the burden on parents directly from these letters that are asking for hundreds of euro."
