Amount of State funding given to private schools branded 'scandalous'

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy told the Irish Mirror that there should be “no public funding to private schools”.

By: irishmirror.ie

Aug 10 2024
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Amount of State funding given

State funding worth over €130m being given to private schools has been branded “scandalous” amid calls for public funding to be cut.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy told the Irish Mirror that there should be “no public funding to private schools”.

In response to a parliamentary question from the Dublin South-West TD, Education Minister Norma Foley confirmed her department had spent €131m on costs related to private schools for the 2022/2023 school year. This, she explained, included salaries for teachers and Special Needs Assistants.

“Capital supports (building-related and ICT grants) are also available to such schools totalling over €0.5 million in 2023,” she continued.

“In addition, specific COVID-19 grant funding of €0.9 million was paid to these schools in the financial year 2023 for hand sanitiser and enhanced cleaning.”

As previously reported by the Irish Mirror, private schools received over €128m in funding from the State for the 2021/2022 academic year. State spending on private education between 2018 and July 2023 amounted to €588m.

Mr Murphy told the Irish Mirror that he did not believe private schools should receive any money from the State.

"It is scandalous that the state gives more than €130 million a year to private schools,” he said.

“This is a subsidy from those who cannot afford private education to those who can. There should be no public funding to private schools and the money should be redirected towards improving our public schooling system."

In response to Mr Murphy’s parliamentary question, Minister Foley said it was not possible to predict what the cost to the State would be if subsidies were removed.

“If the parents of children in the fee-charging sector chose to send their children to the schools in the free education system, the State would have to fund those school places,” the Fianna Fáil TD said.

“In this respect, the figures quoted relate to the gross cost of fee-charging schools and not the net financial position. Since it is not possible to predict these patterns of behaviour, it is not possible to calculate any full-year saving if the monetary subsidies from my Department to fee-charging schools were removed.”

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