Madam, - Yet again I open my Irish Times to discover that your Education Editor, Mr Sean Flynn, has made his umpteenth effort to move Marian College, a private secondary school in Ballsbridge, Dublin, owned by the Marist Brothers, into the "State sector" ("Dublin schools in flux as more opt to go private", October 11th) .
This school, in common with 90 per cent of the other private voluntary Catholic schools in the Republic, made a decision to join the free education scheme in 1967. The decision by so many schools to accept State support to educate people from all backgrounds in a holistic fashion led to a huge increase in the number of students attending secondary education in the 1970s and 1980s - which in turn has led to so much of the success of the "Celtic Tiger" economy.
South Dublin, where fee levels had been higher when the original capitation fees were introduced in 1967, has always been an unusual area in terms of secondary education, with the result that 64 per cent (23 out of 36) of Catholic fee-paying schools in the country are in the area.
It is true, as the Minister says, that, just at the time when all schools were about to experience a reduction in population because of the lowering of the birth rate since the 1980s, there has been a disproportionate drop in the numbers attending non-fee paying schools in Dublin as some parents decided to re-allocate their money to secondary fees when third level fees were removed.
However, as is the case with the vast majority of schools outside Dublin, the non-fee-paying Catholic voluntary schools in Dublin continue to provide outstanding education to children from all backgrounds with State support through capitation and other grants.
Surely The Irish Times should present the excellent education being provided throughout Ireland with limited funds by non-fee-paying schools as a "good news" story, and should support our campaign to increase the funding for Catholic voluntary schools in the "free scheme" (which currently lags behind schools in the State sector to the tune of €240 per pupil per year), rather than continually re-cycling the same information to try to give an impression that excellent, non-fee-charging secondary schools such as Marian College are, somehow, second class. -
Yours, etc,
PAUL MEANY, Principal, Marian College, and President, Association of Management of Catholic Secondary Schools (AMCSS), Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.