Fine Gael TD for Dún Laoghaire, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has today (Friday), called for a practical, supportive and inclusive attitude towards fee paying schools as the Budget approaches.

“In recent years a number of fee paying schools have migrated into the public system. While this is the right choice for the schools in question, it is not a financially viable option for all, and from a very practical point of view, the Government cannot afford to make this change.

“The cost to the state of the migration of Kilkenny College into the public stream was over €3 million. We simply cannot afford to do this for the 53 fee paying schools in the country.

“As a former school principal and a TD, I support choice for parents. Parents should have the right to choose which school they would like to send their children to. Many fee paying schools promote minority faiths and there are very limited options for these minority faiths such as the Church of Ireland in the public stream.

“In some constituencies, the reality is that there are very few other options other than fee paying schools. This is not a question of which schools are better. Both type of schooling provide children with an excellent standard of education. The simple fact is that in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown many of the public schools are over subscribed. These parents are not extremely wealthy, they are struggling to pay the bills but if they want to send their children to a local school, fee paying schools are the only option.