Gilmore: Ending private-school subsidies would not save €90m

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said today that ending taxpayer subsidies to private fee-paying schools would not save the taxpayer €90m a year.

Labour Party members have backed motions at its annual conference in Galway to phase out the financial supports within four years.

Any such move would likely see the schools convert into the public system, however.

Minister Gilmore said that the move would not save the amount of money that many believe it could, as most of it covers teacher salaries.

"Irrespective of whether the pupils are attending private schools or public schools, they're still at school anyway and the money would have to be paid, so if these were public schools the salaries would have to be paid in any event," he said.

"But what we want to achieve is a system of education that is fair to every pupil, that gives every child the best opportunity, and that does not distinguish."