Madam, – Surely the only way to secure an equitable source of funding for all Irish schools is to immediately abolish the denominational/sectarian division of education in this State?
If we could replace sectarian education with a State-run secular model along French lines then perhaps we could actually claim to be a republic instead of constantly pretending to be one. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As a parent with children at The King’s Hospital, I believe that Jonathan Arlow’s comments (October 24th) are presumptuous in the extreme.
He refers to his time as a student at the school and his perception as to the wealth, or need, of his fellow students and their families. Mr Arlow cannot know, then or now, the factual financial situation of any of his fellow pupils or their parents. Schoolboy presumptions can be very deceptive and very often wrong. It is important that discussion and debate are based on facts. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I don’t understand all the fuss about the funding of Protestant second level schools. The way I see it, they were in an over- privileged situation until now:treated like non-fee-paying schools, but still allowed to charge fees. How is that fair? They still are entitled to a block capitation grant which is worth €6.25 million per year. Why are they still getting that? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In the interest of clarification, it is worth advising your readers that there are only two non-fee-paying Church of Ireland schools in Dublin – Newpark Comprehensive and Mount Temple Comprehensive. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – One area of this debate which has been perhaps overlooked is the direct financial implications of Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe’s decisions and the proposals within the McCarthy report.
Leaving aside the many moral and legal issues of the Minister’s campaign against the schools in question, it is clear that the implementation of the proposals would in the long run inevitably cost the State far more than they would save.
If the Minister proceeds along his chosen course it is clear that a quarter of the 21 Protestant fee-paying schools will be forced to close, possibly within five years, with those remaining having to substantially lower enrolment. As a result there would be up to 1,000 pupils per annum needing school places and hundreds of teachers either out of work or needing to be redeployed. – Yours, etc,