Dr. Donal de Buitléir:

The key reason for doing this is what the Deputy calls ideological, which is a somewhat pejorative term in some quarters. It is that to me, it seems completely unacceptable that in a public institution, people are treated differently based on their income. For example, my daughter is in primary school. Would anyone think it was sensible if I could pay the teacher extra money to give her special attention in the class compared to other children?