The proportion of students attending fee-charging secondary schools is declining, according to latest figures compiled by the Department of Education.
The decrease represents the expansion of new school places in the free education sector in response to record numbers of schoolchildren at second level.
A total of 7.4 per cent of boys and 5.7 per cent of girls were enrolled in a private school during the last academic year in 2023/24.
This is down from a high of more than 9 per cent for boys and 7 per cent for girls in 2007.
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The figures are contained in the Department of Education’s statistical bulletin for the 2023/24 school year.
The cost of sending a child to a fee-charging school is rising as well amid criticism from principals over the “exclusion” of the private sector from a growing number of State grants.
Most of the 49 private schools in the sector raised their charges by between 5 and 17 per cent last year, while students are excluded from free schoolbooks for Junior Cycle students.
The most expensive school for day pupils in the country was St Columba’s, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, where fees edged above €10,000 for the first time (€10,258, up 6.5 per cent on last year).
Despite representing a declining proportion of the second-level school population, private school enrolments have been growing in recent years.
For example, there were 27,475 students at fee-charging schools last year, a year-on-year increase of about 200 students.
This compares to a total of 416,620 across all second-level schools last year, a year-on-year increase of 10,228 or almost 54,000 over the last five years.
The country’s largest fee-paying schools are based in Dublin and include Blackrock College (1,036 students), followed by St Andrew’s College in Booterstown (1,029), Belvedere College in the north inner city (1,003) and Wesley College in Ballinteer (947).
Other data compiled in the department’s statistical bulletin shows a decrease in enrolments in single-sex schools at second level over the past decade.
In the last school year, a total of 33 per cent of girls attended single-sex schools (down from 50 per cent in 2013), while 26 per cent of boys attended a single-sex school (down from 33 per cent in 2013).
At primary level, meanwhile, the number of multi-denominational schools continues to grow.
The trend is being driven by new schools – which do not typically have a religious patron – and the divestment, closure or amalgamation of church-run schools.
Despite these changes, Catholic schools still comprise most primary schools (88.4 per cent) followed by the Church of Ireland (6.2 per cent) and multi-denominational patrons (5.5 per cent).
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