Hundreds of teachers will be joining the dole queues at the end of term because of Government cutbacks, it was claimed today.
Some principals claimed they will be forced to lay off up to 10 per cent of their staff due to controversial changes in last October's Budget.
Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe removed grants and reduced the allocation of teachers to schools in a bid to cut public spending in his department.
The Oireachtas Education Committee was told that the future of some of the country's prestigious fee-paying schools may be threatened by the cuts.
One of those, Belvedere College in central Dublin, will be losing 10 per cent of its teachers while Bandon Grammar School in Co Cork will be forced to shed three from its staff, TDs and Senators were warned.
Sr Eileen Radley of the Loreto Education Trust said: "The next three teachers that leave a school will not be replaced by the state."
The Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents 400 voluntary secondary schools in Ireland, claimed that Budget 2009 has had a devastating impact on all schools.
"It must be recognised that the effects of such cutbacks will create major difficulties for all voluntary secondary schools," said general secretary Ferdia Kelly.
"Indeed the severity of the cutbacks is such that it threatens the future viability of a number of voluntary secondary schools, both free education and fee-charging.
"Schools that charge fees are set, from next September, to experience a serious staffing reduction."
The JMB, which also represents 56 fee-paying schools, added that Budget 2009 will result in lay-offs in the state's 34 boarding schools.
Committee members at the meeting in Leinster House were also told that Budget 2009 fundamentally changed the way the state treats minority faith schools run by Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Ireland, Religious Society of Friends or Jewish denominations.
"Parents from the minority community who wish to send their children to an appropriate school are now singularly
disadvantaged," added Mr Kelly.
PA