John is 15 and has just finished his Junior Cert. His 12-year-old sister Ciara is about to go into secondary school. Their parents were hoping that Ciara could inherit all of John's school books, which even after three years' use remain in good condition. They reckoned this would save them almost €400.
But it was not to be. Ciara, who is going to the local convent, girls-only school, was sent her book list during the summer. To her parents' horror, not a single one of her brother's books appeared on that list. They could not understand it - the subjects were the same, the curriculums identical.
The nasty reality for parents is that there are no single, standardised texts for secondary school subjects, or even at primary level. There is a vast array of books to choose from, and that choice is made by the teacher.
John and Ciara's parents must shell out for a completely different set of books for Ciara, covering precisely the same curriculum as that already studied by her brother.
And this is not the first time it has happened to them. While both their children attended the same national school, they each had to have different books. Teachers have their own preferences, and the books for one year's fourth class, for example, can change completely the following year, when a new teacher takes over.
Some schools sensibly standardise their texts so that siblings can inherit books, but others allow the teachers free choice.
There is yet another snag, even with the same books used each year. Some of them have a few pages at the back in which the pupils are expected to write answers. These consequently are no longer suitable to be passed on to other children. This kind of built-in obsolescence ensures continuing healthy profits for the publishers of school books.
Not surprisingly, John and Ciara's parents can't help feeling that they are being ripped off. While one might argue that competition and choice should operate in the interests of consumers in this area, it is clear that in many instances the opposite is the case.
Most of the books in each subject are roughly the same price. Take Junior Cert history for example: there are at least five different texts, all costing €25 to €35.
Presentation, style and illustration vary, but the content is virtually identical as each book must follow the standard course set by the Department of Education.
Beleaguered parents, paying up to €1,350 on books and uniforms for a child at secondary school, according to this week's Labour Party survey, must wonder why it is not possible to produce a single text in each subject, centrally printed, distributed to the schools, there to be bought by the pupils.
With the huge economy of scale involved here - a captive market of around 800,000 school-going children - this must inevitably result in substantial savings across the board, not least by the elimination of the middle layer of bookshops.
This is not in any way to advocate the production of dull, utilitarian state texts.
There is no earthly reason why lively, vibrant, colourful school books could not be produced centrally by panels of experienced teachers, and even involve the students themselves in their design. With the availability these days of extensive internet resources, it is no longer convincing to argue (as in the past) that competition in school texts is necessary to provide diversity of choice.
The State's solution to the crisis faced by parents unable to afford the costs of books and uniforms is to provide a grant. It has never shown any inclination to interfere with the highly lucrative free market in school texts, worth up to €60 million a year and growing consistently at well over the rate of inflation.
The grant itself operates as a prop to this private market, and given its low income threshold does not even assist many of those who desperately need it. Book rental schemes may certainly help, but with the wholly unregulated nature of the market, they can be cumbersome and difficult to organise.
There is a clear case here for direct intervention from government, for a bit of public initiative, rather than slavishly allowing the free market and private enterprise to rule. It is surely at the very least worthwhile investigating the kind of savings to parents which the production of a single, standardised textbook for each subject might entail.
And while they are at it, why not also look into the idea of having a standard school uniform as well?
The costs in some cases for fancy blazers and specialised sportswear are truly scandalous, and can apply in both fee-paying and so-called free schools equally.
Individual parents have little choice but to swallow hard and buy whatever their child's school demands. Collectively, however, they have the potential to wield enormous clout. That they should organise to use this power to put a halt to their annual fleecing seems to be a no-brainer.