Call for equal funds for religious schools

RELIGIOUS-run secondary schools receive up to €100,000 less than those operated by the State, a conference heard yesterday.

Paul Meany, president of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), called on Education Minister Mary Hanafin to urgently restore equal funding to that given to community schools and community colleges. The JMB represents voluntary secondary schools operated by religious orders.

Mr Meany told the organisation’s annual conference in Killarney that the act of faith taken by the majority of religious schools to enter the free education system in 1967 is being sorely tested.