DUBLIN FEE-PAYING school St Michael’s College is confident that over €200,000 missing from its funds will be returned shortly.
Gardaí at Donnybrook were drafted in recently to investigate the misappropriation of the funds.
No member of staff at the school has been suspended or disciplined since the inquiry began.
The school said it is satisfied that no State funds have been misappropriated.
Run by the Holy Ghost Fathers, St Michael’s College, on Ailesbury Road, Dublin, is one of the country’s most exclusive schools.
It has 594 pupils at second level and charges €4,888 in fees.
The college also runs one of the few private primary schools in the State.
It is thought the missing money came from an account linked to both the primary and secondary schools.
Like other fee-paying schools, the teachers at second level are paid from public funds.
The school has one of the highest progression rates to third level in the State and regularly features among the top 10 feeder schools in the annual Irish Times survey.
In a statement, the provincialite of the Holy Ghost Order stressed the quality of education offered by St Michael’s would not be adversely affected by the investigation.
“While further information is not immediately available, we will make a further statement when we are in a position to do so,” added the statement.
St Michael’s College was founded in 1944 by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (the Spiritans), as a Catholic junior school for boys.
It was extended in 1975 to be a full secondary school.
Today, it operates through a partnership of laity and religious. The school has a strong academic and rugby tradition.
Past pupils include Labour deputy Ruairí Quinn, a former minister for finance.
His brother Lochlann Quinn, a former chairman of AIB, also attended the school.
Other notable past pupils include comedian Risteard Cooper and Keith Gleeson, the former rugby international.
The late Dermot Morgan taught English at St Michael’s College before becoming a full-time actor.
In 2007, St Michael’s won the Leinster Senior Cup, a significant achievement for a school which has about half the enrolment of Blackrock College and Belvedere College.
