A Dublin Grandad is furious because his grandchild carries around a“bag of shame” in school.
Cormac was on RTE Liveline earlier today speaking about how he is concerned that his granddaughter is freezing in school because they won’t allow her jacket on the premises
He told Joe Duffy: “Once she gets in the school gates, she takes off the coat we got her and puts it in a white plastic bag which she calls the bag of shame because everybody knows her coat is in that bag and she hasn’t the school coat.
"But after school she went out the gates and put on the coat. She’ll be freezing but now, she won’t carry the bag around with her.
"She’s embarrassed, she’s 14. It annoys me that it’s gone too far.
“I was asked to pick her up from school the other day because she has no coat. She’s not allowed to wear her coat in school because it hasn’t got the school crest on it.”
The Dublin school brought in the mandatory school coat that costs €50 this year.
“She came home for lunch today and I asked where her coat was, but she said she doesn’t bring it to school anymore because there’s no point,” Cormac continued.
“It's raining today, she has to get the bus from her house and then the Luas to school and she comes in here before school, leaves her coat here and walks to school.
“She doesn’t bring her coat to school anymore because she’ll have to carry it around in the plastic bag of shame.”
Cormac’s grandchild has the school uniform, tracksuit and “the whole nine yards,” but not this coat but he doesn’t want to buy her the school coat “out of principle”.
He said: “I can go out and buy the coat, but what about the other mothers who have two or three children in the school and have to buy three coats. Out of principle I wouldn’t buy the coat.
“My daughter, her mother, paid over €50 for the coat she wears to school but she can’t wear it on the school property without the crest. They won’t sell the crest separately to sew on.”
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