Irish parents struggling to buy schoolbooks and uniforms in the face of a deep recession may now have to worry about sending their children to school with a toilet roll as well as a packed lunch.

Pupils at a primary school in the southern county of Cork are being asked to bring their own toilet paper to school to help save money, one of the starkest examples yet of the death of Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" economy.

"The letter was sent out just as a way of balancing books here in the school and not intended as a demand," said Catherine O'Neill, principal at St John's Girls National School.

O'Neill said the request was made because of cuts to government grants for books and computers. She added that parents were responding well.

"I've done a quick tour of the classrooms this morning and I'd say at least half the pupils have brought them (toilet rolls) in," she told national broadcaster RTE.

"I have no doubt that there are an enormous number of schools out there that are doing the same thing."

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by Andras Gergely and Mark Trevelyan)