Report outlines spending power of fee-paying schools

A new report for the Department of Education says the country's private fee-paying schools have more than €8m a year extra to spend on their students.

It also says that the cost of all 55 fee-paying schools entering the free scheme would be €23.5m, a lot less than previous estimate of more than €100m.

The 55 private, fee paying schools in the country raise about €120m a year by charging students for their education.

After discounts and loan repayments, they have €81m left so they can pay for extra teachers, sports coaches and for buildings such as gyms and sports halls.

The taxpayer forks out €100m for the salaries of teachers - the Bord Snip Nua report recommended cutting taxpayer funding by paying for less teachers - and the department report says if this was done the 55 schools would still have more than €61m in discretionary spending.