Protestant school funding - can somebody explain what this is about?

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biggerry

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Can somebody explain what the current controversy is regarding Protestant school funding? What was the "old" payment and what's the "new" payment?
 
In the past, Protestant schools got more money than other schools. It is proposed that from now on, all schools, regardless of religious creed, will get the same money. The Protestant schools are annoyed because they will receive less from the Government.

Protestant schools are claiming they need more money to protect their ethos. The history to this is that at the time of independence, the Protestants essentially got paid off so as to row behind independence and this was one of the sweetners in the deal.

The Government is saying that it is un-Constitutional to favour a particular religion and it is also contrary to equality legislation.

To be honest, the Protestants are onto a loser here - no way they can justify extra funding solely on the basis of religion.
 
Thanks csirl.

So it's a reduction in funding which will bring them in line with non protestant schools, right?
 
Is it the right time to ask why any school run by a religious order should receive money from the gov?
 
I think one of the arguments in favour of the extra funding is that unlike Catholic schools which are in every town and accessible to all Catholics - Protestant children often have to travel far and board to get a Protestant education.

I went to a state school in my home town and it was only a two star rating compared to the local grammar school which was more like a five star. We went to play a football match and none of us wanted to go back to our miserable school after we give the lads in the grammer a soccer lesson. We had concrete or grass and our friends in the grammer had a long tree lined avenue with a gardener tending to the beautifully manicured green areas and the sports fields were like something out of a sports acedemy.

As a young spoty sports mad teen I was sorry that I didn't kick with the other foot!

Under the old guard the COI were the official religion of the state and were given a large sum of money to relinquish this position. This 1 million was very wisely invested and today is said to pay a very healthy dividend.

I suppose other minority religions could argue that they too deserve to get extra funds to enable them to offer faith based education to their followers and this is were it probably starts to get a bit tricky!
 
As far as I am aware, Catholics are welcome to attend Protestant Schools but it depends on available places after all other categories have been filled (eg - Protestant children, teachers' children, etc etc)
 
DB74 said:
As far as I am aware, Catholics are welcome to attend Protestant Schools but it depends on available places after all other categories have been filled (eg - Protestant children, teachers' children, etc etc)
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I cant imagine being a teachers child gets you special treatment on any official selection critera, however it may well happen in practice.
 
truthseeker said:
I cant imagine being a teachers child gets you special treatment on any official selection critera, however it may well happen in practice.
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Actually it is on the official selection criteria for many schools. Most of these rules are made up pretty arbitrarily. There was some talk a year or so ago about some of them being descriminatory but I guess events have pushed that story down the agenda.
 
Howitzer said:
Actually it is on the official selection criteria for many schools. Most of these rules are made up pretty arbitrarily. There was some talk a year or so ago about some of them being descriminatory but I guess events have pushed that story down the agenda.
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Yes, I remember that, although my understanding was the discrimination was based on religion rather than on being the child of a teacher.
 
I didn't say that it was discriminatory - I was merely pointing out that there is a pecking order in the enrolment policies of the Protestant Schools and that teachers' children (Catholics obviously) get priority over "normal" Catholics.

From memory we put our son on a waiting list for Kings Hospital in Palmerstown just after birth just to keep our options open and I think he fitted into category 6 or 7 when it came to enrolment.

The categories are something like

1. Protestants in the catchment area
2. Siblings of past pupils
3. Children of past pupils
4. Children of Protestant clergy
5. Children of Teachers
6. Children of Catholic clergy ;)
7. AN Other!
 
ParkLane said:
Are Catholics welcome to attend all Protestant schools?
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My wife attended a well known Protestant school in Dublin, is catholic. More than 50% of the students came from a catholic background. Only about one third of the students were from the particular demonination of protestantism that the school belonged to.

She didnt live in the catchment area or have any siblings/relatives attending the school. Says that the primary criteria for getting into one of these schools is willingness to pay the fees. Says they were very ruthless about getting rid of kids who's parents were no longer able to pay - were even thrown out mid-term.
 
Apparently there is a saving of €6.5 million per year to be had on this one. Hmmm, it is but a drop in the ocean compared to NAMA, bank bonuses, FAS, etc. etc.
My children attended a COI primary school and they had the most wonderful time there. They are not COI might I add. I was born and raised Catholic but quit about 20 years ago. By the time my kids left primary I had been chairperson of the parents council for 4 years. We were always welcomed and never felt uncomfortable and are still in touch with the school some years later. I still devote time to assisting the school anyway I can.
After they finished primary, I found that as a single mother I couldn't afford the fees to send my children to private school. We didn't qualify for any grants as we were not COI.
It was only recently my son told me that he had a pretty awful time in secondary and took a serious amount of abuse for 'kicking with the wrong foot'. It didn't matter that he was not Protestant, Presbyterian, Baptist or in any way Anglican, he was not Catholic and therefore was ostracised and subjected to name calling and even physical abuse. He never told me because he didn't want to cause me worry. He says that the bigotry was a daily occurence until he got to Leaving Cert and it tailed off. My daughter attended the same school but never had any issues (at least with religion, just usual awful *****y girl stuff :rolleyes:)
That is why previous to this the government had paid additional funding to schools operated within the Anglican faith. So kids could attend a school within their own faith without fear of prejudice and receive religious instruction within their own faith. Said schools are opened to other denominations and I have never ever heard of any bigotry or prejudice going on there and all of my children's friends loved boarding school, no matter where they attended.
Okay - done it again, huge post, I do get carried away sometimes!! :D
 
headache said:
That is why previous to this the government had paid additional funding to schools operated within the Anglican faith. So kids could attend a school within their own faith without fear of prejudice and receive religious instruction within their own faith. Said schools are opened to other denominations and I have never ever heard of any bigotry or prejudice going on there and all of my children's friends loved boarding school, no matter where they attended.
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You don't solve problems like this with segregation. In fact, segregation (and paying extra to support segregation) is like paying ransom money to kidnappers. It is incentivising unacceptable behaviours.

Integration is the only answer, along with stopping unacceptable behaviours.
 
I agree. I think religion should be taken out of the schools altogether. But it won't happen any time too soon. More and more schools are handling children of mixed faith so the overtly Catholic theme needs to go. That is to say, the use of the Our Father or Hail Mary at morning assembly. I had to go to the school when my children got yelled at for either failing to bless themselves or using the wrong hand!
The nasty bigoted kids in school today learned it from their parents and will teach it to their kids. It's no fun being in a minority, whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Mormon or a Jehovah Witness. I am quite surprised by the prejudice I experience from the people in my village, colleagues and even family.
Your average Paddy will not be changing his attitude anytime soon to something he doesn't understand or care to learn about.
 
headache said:
I agree. I think religion should be taken out of the schools altogether. But it won't happen any time too soon. More and more schools are handling children of mixed faith so the overtly Catholic theme needs to go. That is to say, the use of the Our Father or Hail Mary at morning assembly. I had to go to the school when my children got yelled at for either failing to bless themselves or using the wrong hand!
The nasty bigoted kids in school today learned it from their parents and will teach it to their kids. It's no fun being in a minority, whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Mormon or a Jehovah Witness. I am quite surprised by the prejudice I experience from the people in my village, colleagues and even family.
Your average Paddy will not be changing his attitude anytime soon to something he doesn't understand or care to learn about.
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I presume by 'Paddy' you mean irishman, maybe the prejudiced attitudes are rubbing off.
 
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