Between 2000 and 2005, enrolment figures at fee-paying schools around the country rose by nearly 13%. In that same period, the total number of students attending second level dropped by nearly 3.5%.

As income levels have risen in Ireland, so too has the belief that the best second-level education must be bought, to the detriment of public schools around the country, who are losing numbers to their fee-paying counterparts.

"This is a problem that has got much worse in the last three or four years and it is leading to the ghettoisation of Irish education, " said Finian McGrath, north Dublin TD and former school principal. "If we don't face up to the reality of what is happening, that we are losing the social mix in our schools, then we are going to have a huge crisis in education within the next five years."

Sending your child to a private school is almost exclusively a Dublin phenomenon, with 37 of the 55 fee-paying schools in the country being located in the capital.

Virtually all of these schools, including Gonzaga College, Loreto College, St Stephen's Green and Holy Child, Killiney, have seen their enrolment figures rise. The exclusive Rosemont School in Blackrock, which is linked with Opus Dei, has seen its numbers nearly double in the last five years.

Meanwhile, hundreds of unfilled places are now available in Dublin, where numbers in many of the bestknown and well-respected public schools have dropped significantly. O'Connells in the north inner city, St Paul's, Raheny and Sion Hill, where minister Mary Hanafin was educated, have all seen their numbers decline.

It seems more and more parents are willing to fork out an average of 4,000 a year to get their child a private education. As places in these exclusive schools become less available, many parents are now belatedly enrolling their children in the corresponding private national school, as a way of getting them into second level.

Reasons include wanting the best education for their children and wanting them to be with their own kind. The school league tables, published every year, have also fed into the idea that a private education is the best route to university.

"Parents are forking out fees in the belief that their children will get a better education, " said Rose Tully of the National Parents Council (Post-Primary). "They seem to forget that the curriculum is the same and that if a student is willing to work, they will get on regardless. These are the schools that are churning out the majority of workers in today's workforce and we should remember that."

According to John Morris of the Institute of Education in Dublin, which isn't included in Department of Education figures, this year the school has seen a 10% increase in enrolment in its full- and part-time courses.

"Of course the Celtic Tiger has played a part in this, but we believe that these days students are more discerning and are making more informed choices, " he said. "They want to get into college by the most direct route. The oldfashioned idea of going to the local school and taking what's on offer doesn't have to happen anymore. All it takes is one bad teacher and then the party is overf Here we offer a broad choice and that's what students need."

McGrath disagrees. "If we lose the mix in education, if we can't have the children of doctors, teachers and binmen in one class, but have the poor in one school and the wealthy in another, then that will be detrimental to our society, " he said. "There are two parts to getting a good education: having a stable and supportive family, and receiving good-quality teachingf There are some fantastic initiatives and excellent teaching to be found in public schools. People need to be more supportive of them."