Madam, - Figures released by the Department of Education and Science which show the number of foreign nationals in Irish second-level schools hide a disturbing fact.
As your Education Editor, Seán Flynn, notes, they "do not distinguish between newcomer children who do not have English as a first language and English-speaking children from abroad". Fee-paying schools invariably pick from the latter category as they are the ones whose parents can afford to pay.
Under-funded, non fee-paying schools must carry the problems of multilingual, multicultural, non-Irish nationals in addition to catering for most of the nation's children with physical and learning difficulties. Fee-paying schools, many of which are closely allied to religious organisations, have shirked their responsibilities in these areas.
How long will these schools continue to receive State subsidies totalling more than €80 million in order to maintain their elitist isolationism, and will a new minister for education address this scandal? - Yours, etc,
LOUIS O'FLAHERTY, Lorcan Drive, Santry, Dublin 9.