Protestant school funding to be cut

THE Government is standing firm over its decision to reduce funding for Protestant second-level schools, despite questions about why it took 40 years for legal advice to tell the Department of Education the extra money was unconstitutional.

Ahead of a meeting yesterday with representatives of the 31 fee-paying schools from which the €3.5 million support grant was withdrawn in the budget a year ago, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe told the Dáil on Tuesday that the Attorney General had given his officials this advice. He has been told it was wrong that Protestant schools were receiving €645 for every student compared with €345 in other schools.

The Committee for Management of Secondary Schools, which discussed the issue with Mr O’Keeffe yesterday, said children of poor Protestant families attend urban schools as much as those in rural areas.