The constitutional right of Protestant parents to educate their children in a school of their choice “is being slowly suppressed,” the mother of secondary school children has claimed.

Writing in today’s Irish Times, Julie Carr said that repeated increases in the pupil-teacher ratio in Protestant, fee-paying schools had “increased costs in individual schools so that teachers are being let go, subjects cut back and fees increased”.

The increase in the pupil-teacher ratio means that smaller classes in Protestant schools cannot be sustained. As a result, some Protestant schools have had to cut the number of subjects they can offer, while others have had to increase fees to pay for teachers themselves.

Ms Carr wrote: “There is now enormous strain on parents to find the money to keep their children in a school of their ethos. The vast majority of parents are ordinary, hardworking taxpayers who are not well off. Increasing numbers are being forced, with heavy hearts, to send their children to schools in the free system, which are not of the Protestant ethos.

“Unfortunately, the debate on State support for fee-charging schools has been characterised by a tendency to inaccurately label Protestant families who choose to educate their children in such schools as elite and well-heeled. This masks the reality faced by many Protestant families.”

Ms Carr pointed out that because Protestant fee-paying schools had always educated pupils from more diverse socio-economic backgrounds, they were recognised separately from other fee-charging secondary schools.

“This enabled Protestant families across the community to educate their children in a school of their choice, irrespective of their means or location,” she said.

“Over the years, Protestant schools have been successful in sustaining a direction of prayer, an ethos and a sense of belonging to the Protestant faith for their teenage pupils.”

However, she noted that it was now Labour Party policy “to increase the pupil-teacher ratio for fee-charging secondary schools even further”.

“It is difficult to escape the suspicion that Fine Gael has chosen not to take on its coalition partners on this issue,” she added.

Ms Carr also pointed out that Protestant families were now borrowing to try to bridge the ever-increasing gap created by the increase in pupil-teacher ratio.

According to research from last year, 48 per cent of Protestant parents had to apply for financial assistance to send their children to a school of their ethos.

Ms Carr said that, while there was a means-tested block grant to assist Protestant parents to send their children to Protestant schools, the number of families applying for this grant was rising significantly.

She said: “The widening gap generated by the increase in pupil-teacher ratio makes it more difficult to attend and remain in school. Increasing numbers of those who would normally qualify for assistance are being forced into the free system.”

Ms Carr added that the more children that move into the free education system, the greater the burden on the exchequer.

“Two Protestant fee-charging schools have been already been forced to enter the free system. A policy ostensibly designed to save the exchequer money ends up costing money.”

Many in the Protestant community, Ms Carr said, viewed the actions of the current Government “as tantamount to discrimination”.

She said: “Polite Protestant families are angry. Politicians of every hue, particularly Fine Gael ministers and backbenchers, need to raise their voices and challenge this policy. If our public representatives do not confront this issue, the fabric of the Protestant community in our Republic will be torn beyond repair.”