Private schools have warned that under a proposal to withdraw state funding for this sector, fees should be doubled or face the possibility of closure. “There are already non-paying minority religious schools, and they are completely sustainable in their own right. There is no reason to believe that the future of all minority religious schools could not be protected within a publicly funded system. Compared to the “free sector,” paid schools had fewer state-funded teachers, less guidance and counseling assignments, and were not automatically supported by Covid-19. Funds provided to paid schools recognize that if parents of children in the paid sector choose to send their children to the free sector, the state must fund those school locations.

Source: The Irish Times February 19, 2022 03:35 UTC