Iâm aligned with Comrade @binkybarnes on this. Lads telling us private schools save the State money 
Itâs a privilege afforded to the few
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You could, if a sports club was a state funded school.
A privilege paid for by a few.
Do they?
Brilliant. We need the likes of you to head up a hobby-metrics committee to tell us what hobbies are worthwhile or not.
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Probably above your head.
Thereâs a lot of specialist training involved in rugby. Dermot Morgan did a good piece back in the day on they type of technical training that prop forwards require.
A certain number of teachers are paid.
Sports clubs also receive money from the State both directly and indirectly.
Again- how is it reasonable that the Governments gives stipends to amateur GGA hobbyists and not other ones? The State spends millions on this a year- this allows the GGA to fund coaching in places like schools with full time Promotional officers.
I donât have an issue with hobbyists doing what they want to do and the State funding facilities, coaching and the likes for that hobby. I have an issue with stipends for it though.
They do save the State money. Thats a fact- the children are entitled to free education and donât receive it.
And they have saved money from the outset- the State in the 1960s refused to pay the building loans on the majority of these schools. The fact they are predominately in South Dublin is because (1) thatâs where a lot of Protestants were and their schools and (2) the explosion of suburbia in the 1950s resulted in increased demand for schooling.
Some fellas need a history lesson on this.
Youâre saying they were set up to help take the burden off the taxpayer , a lovely act of altruism , that will show the cynics it was nothing to do with trying to create a pathway for elites in society .
They werenât. They predate free education.
Previous to that, everyone paid some kind of fee. The schools in question generally undertook massive building projects in the 1950s and 1960s as their catchments increased and thus had higher fees. The State refused to take these liabilities on. That was actually the case with Oatlands College as well who didnât join the free scheme until eventually a deal was done with the Christian Brothers to share the building loans- with the State forced into it because there were few free spots available locally.
With Protestant schools, it was historically about protecting that minority.
The State simply agreed to pay for the teachers and keep them within the frameworks of the time, something theyâve cut back on the last 20 years.
Of the 74 members of the Supreme Court to date, 32 attended both a fee-paying secondary school and UCD.
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Whatâs the relevance of UCD?
If we are talking about privilege- historically Trinity has been highly underrepresented on the Supreme Court and in Government. Indeed for a long time it was said that Ireland was run by the Christian Brothers.
The majority of these schools are simply the oldest secondary schools we have, thus will have more established educated people through the decades. The older schools like Synge Street CBS that did transfer to the Free Education Scheme were largely urban based with long established facilities. They also were impacted by the suburban flight of the 50s and the fact that more schools opened in the suburbs, removing the need for people to travel long distances to school. For a school like Oatlands, they expanded rapidly in the 60s with major building loans. The ÂŁ30 cap per pupil Donagh OâMalley placed per pupil was not going to pay the ÂŁ44 fee Oatlands previously charged.
The Government struck various deals and paid only for what they could get away with. Thatâs the historic reality.
And with regards to Synge Street, rather ironically today we have seen an attempted takeover by local middle class parents trying to turn it into a Gaelscoil (which is complete with better funding and advantages the regular sector doesnât get). This is to the exclusion of migrants here. Nobody seems to care about that.
The gaelscoil is the freeloaders private school scheme. More money, educational advantages and no immigrants.
Right dressed up as left.
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They get an extra 10% of their grade up to 70% but this slackens off thereafter and doing intricate leaving cert exams completely through Irish is surely a bit of a deterrent. Iâm not sure the educational advantages are as pronounced as you suggest.
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They get a free hit with gaeilge, and they are surrounded by like minded grimly determined middle and upper middle class aspirational parents. Itâs a bigger advantage than private school, hence the gimlet eyed scramble to place fiadhra there.
They receive extra funding per pupil.
It automatically results in the most proficient Irish teachers being starved ffrom the free and fee paying sector for these schools given the shortage:
The Irish language is given a primary position in the educational sector in Ireland and provides guaranteed jobs at the end.
Itâs a clear advantage, not to mention its divisive role within Irish society.
Itâs a bit like the GGA in that it directs some of our best to dead end things like translator roles, TG4 etc rather than the international stage.
Yet the schools who save the State money are the problem. 
Meh, itâs basically the old school banking route. Guaranteed a decent living but ultimately uninspiring.!
Youâre talking complete bollox here. The professional classes in Ireland are dominated by private school alumni. Not gaelscoil.
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