Dr. Michael Redmond:

Charging schools was an example of a public private partnership that was in place since the foundation of the State, and those schools remained in the fee-charging sector after free education was introduced by Donogh O’Malley. I would point out the anomaly that schools in the fee-charging sector are not permitted by the Department to open special classes or classes for students with autism. That anomaly needs to be addressed. I do not think the schools in that sector are seeking anything particularly special other than equitable treatment.

What the Senator may be referring to is the inequitable treatment in terms of resourcing. For example, around the Covid reopening, the schools in the fee-charging sector were specifically excluded from Covid reopening resources and then, following advocacy from ourselves, it was opened on an application basis only. One grant type after another is denied to them or reduced down to 50%. That is a policy the Department has evolved from but it is one that has never been tested.

In terms of equity, even though there could be an ideological civic discourse on the rights of parents to send students to fee-charging schools, first, that is still constitutionally protected and, second, it would go against the diversity argument if we were to eliminate one particular tranche schools in favour of another or to try to homogenise an educational system that is working, by and large, at post-primary level to serve the needs of students and families of all types.