Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has said he is aware of some Catholic fee-paying schools which would now prefer to go back into the normal free education system.
The Archbishop says he has heard these schools have taken soundings from the authorities, but that the reaction was not entirely enthusiastic.
The Archbishop says this is because moving from the fee-paying system would mean a further commitment of public funds.
The Department of Education, however, says it has no record of any approaches from any of the fee-paying schools with regard to transferring into the public free education system.
Dr Martin says it is possible to provide education of the very highest quality in the non fee-paying Catholic sector.
