Cost of staycations enough to make you flee the country

We want to stay in Ireland for our summer holiday but, with a bigger family, the price is killing us. This year, our plans had been up in the air for a while, so the first thing we learned was that if you wait until May to book a summer holiday in Ireland, most decent places are gone. What remains is pricey – or rather, even pricier than usual.

Last year, research from Myhome.ie found that 63pc reckon holidaying abroad represents better value than staying in Ireland.

In a recent survey by Ipos B&A, 62pc of respondents said they were just “getting by”. So there’s not much extra to splash out on holidays, and larger families are feeling the pinch most.

Of course, if we stay here, we save on the ferry or flights and car rental. Then again, meals, accommodation and activities are usually cheaper when we go to Europe.

There is often quite a striking difference with the accommodation, with more family deals. In Spain, the last parador (a state-sponsored hotel) we stayed in did not charge for children under 12. And they don’t bump up the bill if you ask for an extra bed in a room.

At the start of last August, we stayed at the Premier Inn Berlin at Alexanderplatz. We had booked in April and, for €144.90, got two rooms. The children’s room had four single beds and cost the same as a room with two singles. When I went on to Booking.com to look for something similar in Galway for a Thursday night in early August, 85pc of places were booked up and the nearest in price to our Berlin bonanza was a hostel: one bed in a mixed dorm, the rest in bunk beds in a family dorm room for €234. No thank you.

The cheapest four-star hotel was €408 a night for two deluxe rooms. Prices were cheaper in June, but June is impossible with primary school kids – unless we take them out of school early, which more and more people are doing.

The number of children taken out of school for holidays in 2021 was 350,000, up from 60,000 in 2019, according to the child and family agency Tusla. This practice eventually slows down the class for everyone because the teacher has to ensure these children catch up. But I understand why parents do it if it’s the only way to afford a break.

It’s not just summer. We wanted to get away at Easter. Before Covid, we would have rented a house on Airbnb in places such as Waterford, but prices have become so outrageous that we do a few day trips instead.

It’s a first-world problem, for sure, to moan about the cost of staycations when the world is burning. But it is tricky when your kids’ friends – usually the ones with smaller families – are going on numerous holidays a year and your child is doing nothing.

The price of eating out in Ireland also deters us. You get sick of the ham sandwich on the windswept beach. But no matter how casual the pub lunch, it’s rare to get in and out with a family of six for under €100. McDonald’s is out because the oldest has turned up his nose at cheap, processed food, which means we will be forking out a lot more for poke bowls instead of Happy Meals.

Ireland should bring in a version of France’s “big family” card. This is funded by the taxpayer to ease the burden on families – including blended ones – with three or more kids. The card gives you discounts on public transport and things such as sports and holidays and restaurants. I’ve always found trains and buses in Ireland are good value with the family – it’s everything else that sets you back.

Camping can be good value here, but I am wary when there is no guarantee of the weather.

The last time we did a staycation, it rained solid for the five days we stayed in a Tralee hotel. As we looked out while the rain lashed down on the motorway outside, we consoled ourselves at least we were not on a flooded campsite. However, this year we took the risk and booked two nights in a campsite in Clare at €150 a night.

We’re also staying three nights with bed and breakfast in a nice hotel in Connemara (four-star) midweek in July. At €1,500, it was very steep, but we have been there before and have priceless memories so we made the investment.

It seemed five days was all we would stretch to, but then a pal saved the day and allowed us to stay a week in their holiday home in Cork at low rent.

Only for this last-minute intervention, I think I might have given up on Ireland and gone back to the Gites de France website for a roomy holiday home in the sunny south.

‘The nearest Galway price to our Berlin bonanza was a hostel: one bed in a mixed dorm, the rest in bunks in a family dorm room for €234. No thanks’