Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this topic for discussion. I commend the Department of Education and Skills and its Ministers for the recently published School Completers - What Next? and early school leavers reports which are enlightening and provide the up-to-date detail required by those of us interested in education, particularly equality in education. Both reports highlight the level of work in which we, as a Parliament, need to engage to bring about equality in education, particularly at second level. They indicate the disadvantages for children of working class families in not completing second level education and highlight the difficulties they experience in accessing third level education, universities in particular. They also vindicate my view which I have held all of my adult life that the State should not be providing financial support for the small number of private schools operating in the country. The reports clearly state this gives children attending fee paying schools the edge in that they are three times more likely to access third level education than children from working class backgrounds who attend schools in working class areas. If we are to ensure equality in education, this funding must cease.

In regard to the continued subsidisation of private schools, I have previously pointed out to the Minister that, for all that is said about discrimination in Northern Ireland, private schools there do not receive one cent of taxpayers' money; rather, they operate independently. That is how it should be here. I am opposed to the State subsidising private schools. If we are to ensure fairness in second level education, the subsidisation of private schools must end.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter.

A new report published today, School Completers - What Next?, shows that over 50% of students who were enrolled in the final year of senior cycle in Department of Education and Skills-supported post-primary schools in 2010 went directly to higher education. This is the first in a series of reports by the Department that tracks pupils one year after they leave school. This evidence-based research has been compiled using data matching of administrative data.

The Department also produces reports on projections of enrolment at third level and the retention rates of pupils in second level schools. Data showing where school leavers went having completed the leaving certificate examination in 2010 are contained in School Completers - What Next? It found that of the 54,824 school leavers that year, 44% went on to study a higher education course in a HEA funded institution; 20% enrolled in PLC courses; 5% repeated the leaving certificate examination; an estimated 4% enrolled in colleges abroad, predominantly in the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, and just over 2% were estimated to have enrolled in a non-HEA funded institution. The report also shows that 66% of students who attended fee-charging secondary schools as compared to 47% from the non-fee charging secondary school sector progressed directly to higher education. Some 42% of students from comprehensive schools, 38% from community schools and 34% from the vocational sector progressed directly to higher education. In terms of students attending DEIS schools, some 24% as compared to 49% from non-DEIS status schools went on to higher education. While over 57% of pupils attending all-Irish schools progressed directly to higher education courses, it should be noted that this refers to a small sample size - 826 of 1,437 pupils.

In the 2011-12 academic year there were over 163,000 full-time students in publicly funded third level institutions. Demand for full-time education has risen substantially in recent years, with full-time enrolments rising from just under 116,000 in 2000-01. Owing to the underlying demographics, demand is projected to increase continuously up to 2026, with a projected level of demand for full-time places of over 192,000 by 2020-21 and 209,000 by 2026-27.

Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply which indicates the progress being made. Historically, too many children, particularly from working class communities, have left school too early, but this is beginning to turn around. I welcome any improvement in that regard.

On funding for fee-paying schools, neither the Minister of State nor I can be blamed for this situation which got out of control during the Celtic tiger era. The level of funding provided for private schools in this jurisdiction over 14 years amounted to almost €1 billion, which is a lot of money. As I said, if we are to ensure equality in education and give all children the prospect of accessing third level education, we will need to rectify this.

The Minister of State may have heard last week that one private fee paying school, one of the best in terms of performance, with almost 90% of its students going on to third level, reported a €400,000 surplus in its 2012 accounts to the Companies Registration Office. Not only did it have a surplus of €400,000 last year, this was an increase on the surplus of €300,000 recorded for the previous year. Many have commented on how tough things are and the need to continue paying all of this money to private schools. However, this does not stand up. We are paying money to schools that are operating on a surplus. For this reason, the abolition of this funding is justified.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I take the points made by the Deputy. A number of initiatives to make third level education accessible to those who are under-represented have been initiated.

One of these is the third level access fund, as administered by further and higher education institutions, to support the retention of certain target groups, namely, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, mature students, students with disabilities and those from ethic minorities. It is managed on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills by the Higher Education Authority's national access office. In 2009-10, entrants from these target groups made up 37.1% of all entrants to third level institutions. The back to education initiative aims to increase the participation of young people and adults with less than upper second level education, particularly the so-called hard-to-reach, who experience strong barriers to participation in a range of part-time accredited learning opportunities leading to awards on the national framework of qualifications to facilitate their access, transfer and progression to other education and employment pathways. We also have the Springboard programme. These initiatives have been established to enable those from the lower socioeconomic categories to have access to third level or higher education. We are trying to improve the situation, while paying attention to the funding that is available and that is not easy in these difficult times. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.