One of the oldest fee-paying schools goes free

One of the country’s oldest fee-paying schools says government cutbacks and pressure on families have forced it to enter the free education system from next September.

Student numbers at Kilkenny College, one of a number of schools to have held talks with the Department of Education about such a move, fell from a peak of more than 800 until 2008 to 764 today.

They include about 430 boarding students. Roughly 75% of its students come from Church of Ireland and other Protestant communities.