Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask Fr. Connell for a breakdown of that figure. What is that funding used for? How much of the funding comes from voluntary contributions and how much from other sources, such as fund-raising? Fr. Connell said he was disappointed that many of the points he made at a previous meeting of this committee were not taken into account in the report. I ask him to elaborate on that. If voluntary contributions were no longer permitted, would it be possible to continue to run schools? I suspect I know the answer. At present, schools are under-funded so if we want to get rid of voluntary contributions, we need to address that issue.

I also ask the representatives from the National Parents Council to comment further on the issue of voluntary contributions. The data suggest 65% of schools seek voluntary contributions from parents while 35% do not. I ask the witnesses to elaborate on that.