Madam, – In her defence of fee-paying schools, your correspondent Orla FitzGerald (April 29th) states “The fact is that ‘fees’ save the State the cost of the provision and upkeep of the private premises within which the State-funded teachers teach”.
The vast majority of voluntary secondary schools in the country operate from private premises and are not in the “fee-paying” category. They, like schools in the State-owned sector, welcome children of all abilities irrespective of the financial resources of their parents.
This is in stark contrast to fee-paying schools which exclude immigrant, Traveller and special- needs children.
It is for this reason that opponents of fee-paying schools believe that in the current economic climate the subsidy of €100 million per annum given to fee-paying schools should be re-directed to the needs of the less privileged in our society. – Yours, etc,