ST Andrew's College, the elite Dublin fee-paying school, made a profit of more than €540,000 in the year ending June 2009.

The profit was an increase of about 8% on the previous year, according to accounts just filed at the Companies Registration Office. Tuition fees generated €7.6m in income during the year, an increase on €7.1m in 2008. The school doesn't pay corporation tax because it has charitable status. The school, which has around 1,200 students, had retained profits of €3.6m at the end of its financial year, the accounts show.

"The principal risk to the operating of the college arises from the potential effect of a severe recession... which might result in a decrease in the number of pupils," the school directors said in a note to the accounts.