Presentation College, Glasthule in south county Dublin will close its doors in 2007. It isn't the first to do so and it won't be the last. For many well-off parents, the lure of fee-paying schools is proving hard to resist, writes John Downes

A school built to accommodate some 300 students echoes to the sound of silence when there are only 100 boys enrolled. This becomes apparent upon entering the buildings of Presentation College, Glasthule, established more than a century ago.

Walking around the school halls, there is some noise, but not as much as you would expect for a school of its size, catering for teenage boys. This is because Presentation College is a south Dublin school that has been living on borrowed time for some years.

And while last month's announcement that it is to close in June 2007 was greeted with dismay by pupils, parents and staff alike, it was hardly unexpected.

The school's principal, Jim Murray, has witnessed with sadness the continuing decline in student numbers at the school since the early 1990s.

As someone who has a long association with the boys school - first as a student, then as a teacher, and now as principal - he has few illusions about the reasons for the school's closure.

It was triggered by demographic changes in the area, meaning there are simply less students.

"There have been falling numbers throughout the country, which are particularly pronounced in the Glasthule area," he explains.

The school attempted to address this fact by changing its status, in the early 1990s, from a fee-paying to a non-fee-paying school.

Teachers at the school even published a school brochure, visiting local primary schools and speaking to teachers and students in the hope of attracting more students to the school. But they had little success in reversing the trend.

According to Murray, the perception among many parents is that their child will get a better education at a fee-paying school. As a result, despite his staff's best efforts, many are opting to send their children to schools such as the nearby Blackrock College and St Andrew's College.

Paul Scanlon, director of education with the Presentation Brothers, says another factor in the closure of the school is the rise in house prices in the Glasthule area.

Young people simply cannot afford to live there, meaning many of the school's current students come from areas such as Bray, outside the local catchment.

But while the cost of houses in the area is undoubtedly a factor, even those parents who can afford to live in the area are choosing a private education for their children.

Last year, The Irish Times revealed that there were 13,000 unfilled free school places on the northside of Dublin and more than 7,000 on the southside.

However, nearly all private schools remain heavily oversubscribed.

"The prices of houses in this area is colossal . . . but it's not the major factor," Scanlon acknowledges. "The major factor is students are not in the area, and any ones that are, it would appear they're [ being sent] to private schools, which of course the parents there have a right [ to do].

"They're not sending their kids here and the likelihood is that they are going to private schools."

"For a school like this to continue, it's dependent on larger enrolments. And to get larger enrolments would mean a change in perception by the people who are opting to go to fee-paying schools," agrees Murray.

"And that's the crux of the matter. And it's how to get over that perception."

So what are the consequences of this? Surely if parents are choosing to send their children to private schools, free schools such as Presentation College Glasthule will continue to struggle to survive?

According to John White, acting general secretary of the ASTI, the perception that a private education is preferable to that provided in the free school sector is primarily a south Co Dublin phenomenon.

This is because it is one of the few areas of the country with private schools. Elsewhere in the country, in places such as Dundalk or Clonmel, everybody sends their children to the local secondary school, he points out.

Undoubtedly, this type of broad education means students get to mix with children drawn from the community they live in - and not just a self-selecting group whose parents can afford fees.

But such an analysis fails to take account of the number of students attending free schools around the country who avail of after-school tuition in the booming grinds school sector.

And, despite what Murray and White might say about the quality of education offered by such schools, the fact remains that parents in the Glasthule area have voted with their feet.

The result? A renowned school in an affluent part of Dublin, in existence for more than 100 years, faces closure.

Presentation College Glasthule will not shut until June 2007, so that current students will be able to finish their Leaving and Junior Certificate courses.

The Presentation Brothers also say they are confident the existing free schools in the area will be able to cater for any pupils in the area whose parents cannot afford to send them to a private school.

Meanwhile, they say they are also examining proposals for the buildings and soccer pitches, with a view to ensuring it is able to remain in some sort of educational service.

For Murray, however, as he faces the gradual winding-down of a school he has grown to love, its closure also prompts wider questions for the future of the education system here.

It raises the spectre of a two-tier educational system, where children from different social backgrounds do not mix.

"They are social, educational and political questions," he explains. "And I think the consequences of that haven't been fully thought through."