Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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344. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full year net saving of withdrawing the annual State subsidy to private schools. [35269/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Gross expenditure on the order of €95 million was incurred in 2018 on salaries for teachers and special needs assistants (including employer’s PRSI).  The total amount spent on Capital Expenditure (including ICT grants) in 2018 was on the order €0.958 million.

If the parents of children in the fee charging sector chose to send their children to the non-fee-paying sector, the State would have to fund those school places. In this respect, the figures quoted relate to the gross cost of fee charging schools and not the net cost. Since it is not possible to predict these patterns of behaviour it is not possible to calculate the net saving.