A furious political row has broken out in the Irish Republic over the removal of a government grant to 21 fee-paying Protestant schools. The cash was used for ancillary services such as caretaker and secretarial support, and is worth EUR2.8 million a year. Opposition Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny accused the department of education of being out to “get at” the schools, because it had lost a court case against them. Taoiseach Brian Cowen said such an accusation was “not responsible or accurate”. But the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev John Neill, weighed in to suggest the department was being “doctrinaire”.