A number of parents around Kerry were forced to turn to money lenders to ensure they could send their children back to school.
At the monthly meeting of Kerry County Council, Labour councillor Marie Moloney said she knew of a number of people who needed extra money for the return to school.
Those people turned to money lenders. Cllr Marie Moloney is calling on the Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys to pay the September's Children's Allowance in August; she says it would be a double payment.
She feels bringing the payment forward by a month, it would help with the costs of back-to-school expenses and therefore ensure people don't need to seek loans for the cost of returning to school.
The Labour councillor says education is far from free in Ireland, and she says families, especially PAYE workers who have a mortgage, have very little disposable income left at the end of a month.
Cllr Marie Moloney says bringing this payment forward a month won't cost the Government anything. She says she'll be raising this with Kerry TDs and encourages her fellow county councillors to do the same.
