Sir, – Diarmaid Ferriter’s article on “voluntary contributions” deserves consideration by every Irish school parent association (“Here is an obvious solution to resented ‘voluntary’ school contributions”, Opinion & Analysis, August 18th).
Almost all parents are faced with significant annual demands for “voluntary contributions” averaging €101 per primary student and €143 per secondary student.
So much for the notion of free education!
In 2013 the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association (CSSPA) was given ESRI statistics which showed the extent of underfunding of Catholic secondary schools. We learned that compared to the State favoured Education Training Board schools, Catholic schools get 20 per cent less capitation.
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Parents of the 200,000 students attending Catholic secondaries continue to face a significantly higher demand for voluntary contributions.
Discrimination against Catholic schools, many of them Deis schools serving impoverished inner-city communities, lies in the notion that boards of management rather than the State are the legal employers of their teachers.
This is why voluntary secondaries alone are docked €562 per teacher by the Department of Education.
It is a bit rich for Minister for Education Norma Foley to say that “voluntary contributions” are discouraged when in fact fair funding of Catholic schools could help to eliminate this ongoing historic scandal.
Over the years, successive National Parents Councils have failed dismally in campaigning against unjust discriminatory funding. Parents can be grateful to the annual surveys of Barnardos, SVP and Irish League of Credit Unions to highlight the issue. – Yours, etc,
ALAN WHELAN,
President,
Catholic Secondary
Schools Parents Association,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.
