The Church of Ireland is stepping up its campaign against Government education cut-backs, which it says are unfairly discriminating against Protestant schools around the country.
At the weekend, more than 300 people met in Tallaght Dublin to discuss the cut-backs, and how to fight-back.
Protestant fee-paying schools receive more money per pupil than other schools, because most are boarding schools, and families often need to be subsidised if they wish their children to be educated in the Protestant ethos.
These cut-backs are on top of the cut-backs affecting all fee-paying schools. Those cut-backs mean that the ratio of pupils to teachers in fee-paying schools will become 20:1, against 19:1 for non-fee paying schools.
He said: ''What is at stake are 21 schools serving the Protestant community, some of which are hundreds of years old, which are supported by a large number of people who wish to exercise their right to be educated within their own ethos.''
When the cut-backs to Protestant schools were first made, the head of the Catholic hierarchy's education commission, Bishop Leo O'Reilly, publicly supported the Church of Ireland position.
The Iona Institute, which supports the right of parents to send their children to denominational schools, also backed the Church of Ireland position this week.
Dr John Murray of The Iona Institute told The Irish Catholic: ''Both morally and according to the Constitution, the task of the State is to support the wishes of parents with regard to how they want their children to be educated.
''Protestant schools will find it very difficult to function in the future because of the cut-backs, particularly the ones that are targeting these schools specifically. They should be reversed,'' he added.
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