Irish schools are being forced to seek financial aid from charities because of massive educational cuts.

The St. Vincent de Paul (SVP) estimates that it will give $4.6million in aid to schools this year.

At the moment the Irish governments priority is to bail out the banks, which has resulted in major spending cuts and tax increases. However Trina Vargo's "leeches in lipstick" lobby group, the US-Ireland Alliance, is receiving $26.7 million in funding.

It may cross your mind that Vargo may blow the money on a needless pre-Oscar bash or on a private golf tutorial with Tiger Woods at the exclusive K club in County Kildare.

The fact is that the "leeches in lipstick" are using the money to award scholarships to Ivy league students.

These are not your run of the mill students that are paying back their hefty student loans.

Unfortunately they are the types that hail from America's wealthiest families, they are elitist and are more likely to claim that they are descended from WASP's rather than hardy Leprechauns.

The worrying thing about the scholarship fund is that only 12 students will be educated in Ireland each year, over a period of five years.

That means that the 12 students will cost the Irish taxpayer $5.3 million a year.

University tuition in Ireland is basically free for Irish citizens, it costs anywhere between $6,000 and $20,000 a year to educate a foreign national in Ireland.

Why does it cost $5.3million a year to educate a handful of students? Surely they will not be living in a 5-star hotel for the year?

Could that money not be well spent on desperate Irish schools?

The economic situation is dire in Ireland, the Irish governments decision to award $26.7million to Vargo (she earns $175,00a year) and her cronies is an insult to the children of the Irish taxpayer.

The St Vincent de Paul is a charity that specifically caters for the poor and disadvantaged. The SVP is now reduced to plugging a hole in state schools.

SVP president Mairead Bushnell said "We know from our discussions with them that teachers are very concerned at the impact that education costs are having on families, particularly the most disadvantaged."

"We are also asking schoolbook publishers not to publish new editions unless there is a curriculum change. This will ensure that books can be passed down in families, exchanged, reused in rental schemes or bought second hand."

Vargo branded the Irish as "pigs in lipstick", yet while Ireland's education system crumbles and teachers threaten to strike she succeeds in milking $26.7million from the Irish government.

It is a bitter pill to swallow.