THE SUGGESTION that Protestant parents who sent their children for education in schools of their own ethos were “posh” or “privileged” was “grossly offensive”, the combined Church of Ireland Dublin Glendalough diocesan synods were told in Dundrum last night.
Jennifer Byrne, of the Board of Education, said it angered her that, where some were concerned, the fact she “chose to go without certain things in order to access Protestant education for my children, apparently puts me into the category of elite”.
She said “outside of Dublin, many parents have little or no choice but to send their children to board if they also choose a Protestant education for their children”.
David Wynne, administrator of the church’s Secondary Education Committee, told delegates how, following Government cutbacks, some Protestant families relied on charity so their children could be educated in their own ethos.
“It is just not reasonable that many Protestant families wanting their children to be educated in a school with a Protestant ethos have to rely on charities such as Protestant Aid,” he said. This was particularly so in the current economic climate, when there are greater demands on the charities, he said.
Such was the situation, he said, that as recently as Tuesday last, eight children who had been in receipt of the maximum grant from his committee had to be removed from Protestant schools “because their families could not meet the balance of their fees”.
Rev Adrienne Galligan told delegates that the budget cuts weren’t “just illogical and ill advised. They attack the very heart of Irish society.” Schools exist in communities and contribute to shaping the very nature of the villages, towns and cities they inhabit, she said.
Glascott Symes, acting principal of Kings Hospital secondary school in Dublin, said Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe’s “reclassification of our schools will force up the fees and make them less and less accessible to the founding community and turn them into elitist and selective schools which they most definitely are not at present”.
The “only equitable solution for our church members, whether urban or rural, whether of limited means or well off, is to restore our schools to the previous position within the free scheme,” he said.
Catherine McGuinness said she supported speakers’ positions on the cutbacks and, speaking in a personal capacity, described present facilities at Newpark school in Dublin as “a disgrace”.
Every obstacle had been put in the way of the construction of a new school at Newpark, plans for which had now gone to tender, she said.