Hanafin backs support for private schools

There had been no change in Government policy on supporting fee-paying schools, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin told the Dáil.

"Since the foundation of the State all parties and all governments have supported such schools, largely to protect choice and the ethos of minorities," she added.

She was replying to Fine Gael education spokeswoman Olwyn Enright, who said that Ms Hanafin's predecessor was considering the abolition of the payment of teachers' salaries in fee-paying schools.

The Minister said that only 10 of the building projects funded by her Department this year were in fee-charging schools.

"School building projects, whether for fee-charging schools or schools in the free education scheme, are selected for inclusion in the schools' building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need using published criteria," she added.

Ms Hanafin said there would be no change in the policy of paying teachers' salaries in fee-paying secondary schools. "Those teachers would have to be paid, irrespective of which school those children attended," she added. Ms Enright said she agreed with that.

The Minister said Government had invested in the largest school-building programme in the history of the State. Between 1998 and the end of last year, almost €2 billion was invested in school buildings and about 7,500 large and small projects were completed in schools, including 130 new schools and 510 large-scale refurbishments and extensions.

This year, €493 million would be spent on school-building projects compared with just €92 million in 1997.

Ms Hanafin said that of the €2 billion invested in school buildings since 1999, €14.5 million, or 0.7 per cent, had been provided for fee-charging secondary schools for building and refurbishment works.