Madam, – Once again the mythology regarding fee-paying schools rears its head (April 27th). As the parent of two boys, one in a fee- paying school and the other in a local secondary school (his choice not ours), I feel eminently qualified to comment on this matter.
There are two issues that many commentators seem to ignore.
1. My wife and I are self-employed, we work extremely hard running two businesses, often working in excess of 60 hours per week each, contributing to the exchequer substantially in terms of VAT, income tax and employers’ PRSI contributions, as well as providing employment to three full-time and six part-time staff. Our choice of what to do with the money we earn is our business and we choose to send our son to a fee-paying school. To do this we gladly make sacrifices in other areas of our lives to accommodate this desire.
2. Tthe €100 million subvention to fee-paying schools goes to pay staff. If the fee-paying school that my son goes to is closed or becomes a non-fee-paying school, its 600 or so pupils still require teachers and the State will have to pay their salaries anyway.
When I pay my son’s school fees, I don’t consider I am paying teachers’ salaries, I expect the State to do that, as it does for every child in the country. I am paying for his accommodation and the provision of a level of care that I would expect him to receive at home. – Yours, etc,