€5.5m in 3 years on school fees for foreign corps

Taxpayer is paying to educate 138 children, at €15k each a year

ALMOST €5.5m has been spent by the Department of Foreign Affairs on private school fees over the past three years. The money was paid out to international schools in cities around the world to educate the children of Ireland’s diplomatic corps.

The average cost of a year of education for one of the students was just under €15,000, according to figures from the department.

Annual costs are also rising with a significant increase in the number of children in education, climbing from 104 in the 2015/2016 academic year to 138 for the current school year.

The department said it had spent €2.06m this academic year, an increase from €1.63m two years ago.

However, the price per student does seem to be coming down: falling from €16,499 in the 2016/2017 academic year to an average of €14,978 for this year. Altogether, the 138 students having their fees paid by the Government are in 57 different international schools.

The largest number of schools( 24) were in Europe, in major capitals like London, Brussels and Paris, followed by 13 in the Americas, records show.

There were also students placed in 10 schools in Asia and Australia, eight schools in Africa, and two in the Middle East.

The overall cost of fees is expected to rise still further next year with costs increasing because of the ‘changing demographic of posted staff’.

In a pre-budget submission, the department had looked for an extra €2.5m in funding for ‘foreign rental accommodation and other costs’ which they said was ‘mainly driven by rental costs and school fees’.

The department has declined to identify any of the schools it uses, or how much variation there is in cost in different cities.

It said naming specific schools could ‘jeopardise the safety of families’ especially if there was only one diplomat in that country.

The schools normally follow an international curriculum, which allows students to switch easily from one country to another.

The first such school in Ireland is expected to open its doors this September in Sandyford in Dublin with annual fees of between €15,900 and €24,000.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said: ‘Support for school fees allows the children of posted officers to continue their education without undue disruption where it would otherwise be very difficult due to the language environment and differing educational systems.

‘Such support is only provided where the officer can provide evidence to demonstrate that it is required to meet these criteria and represents good value for money compared to similar options.’

The spokesman for the department also said that there was a saving for the taxpayer from the children not attending the Irish public education system.

‘Annual costs are also rising’