Schools Admission Bill draft proposals

Sir, – There are few things as entertaining as the anguished response of a privileged elite when it suddenly discovers that one of its privileges, which it has always taken for granted, is being challenged.

The outrage being displayed by the alumni of fee-paying schools such as Blackrock, Belvedere and Gonzaga Colleges that their siblings and offspring (if they are the right gender, of course) might no longer have the hereditary right to a place in their fathers’ school is a perfect example (“Fee-paying schools step up campaign against admissions bill”, October 24th).

Led by past pupils of Blackrock College who, given their seemingly caveman-like attitudes to educational equality apparently glory in the delightfully appropriate moniker of “Rockmen”, are claiming that the draft Schools Admissions Bill is “a threat to that which many of us hold so dear”.

Considering that the State funds these schools to the tune of €100 million, it’s pretty expensive for ordinary taxpayers as well.

The over-the-top quality of the response to these modest proposals to combat discrimination in school admissions policies is well illustrated by the tone of the letter the Blackrock Union suggests past pupils should be sent to TDs.

One sentence says, “I want to make it very clear to you that this is a matter of paramount importance to me and will have a significant impact on where my vote goes at the next election”. One can only ask; where have these people been for the last seven years during the worst economic collapse and recession the country has ever experienced?

The extent of the free ride enjoyed by a select few who get guaranteed admission to these schools is shown at Gonzaga College where, of the places on offer for next year, it is understood that nearly 60 per cent are earmarked for siblings and sons of past pupils.

This illustrates quite clearly why such a legislative measure is needed but it is hardly, in the rather hysterical words of the Belvedere Union, “a stealth tactic to destroy private institutions”. – Yours, etc, JEREMY KEARNEY Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Sir, – In her attack on the proposed new schools admissions policy and her defence of schools giving preference to the children of alumni, Joanna Lowry O’Reilly (Letters, November 26th) finds it “puzzling that selection is permissible for sporting excellence but not for the academic equivalent”.

Although not a keen follower of sport myself, I understand that our national sports organisation choose their players on the basis of ability and achievement rather than on the hereditary basis that Ms Lowry O’Reilly prefers.

If that is not the case, let me be the first to congratulate Billy O’Driscoll on his captaincy of the Irish rugby team in 2032. – Yours, etc, DARA HOGAN Greystones, Co Wicklow.