A transfer of some Dublin schools from Church control to other patronage is under discussion by Department of Education officials and the Catholic Church. According to a report in the Irish Times, the Minister for Education, Batt O’Keeffe revealed in Dáil on Thursday 14th May, that his Department was “seeking details of any schools where a change of patronage might potentially be relevant”.
Dr Diarmuid Martin, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, has already signalled that the Church was ready to transfer control of schools in places where there is less demand by parents for Catholic education.
In 2007, during the controversy surrounding a school in Ballbriggan, in which two local schools were unable to take in any further pupils, Dr Martin said he felt that the Catholic Church was too dominant in the education sector.
At that time, he suggested that a mix of education providers might be the best approach for Irish education in the future.
He added that he thought that the Church might now be over-represented in terms of the number of primary schools which it controls.
Presently, 3,000 of the country's 3,200 primary schools are run by the Church, but there has been significant growth in the number of schools with alternative patronage in recent years.
However, the INTO, the union which represents primary teachers, responded to the Minister's statement by saying that a more diverse range of education provision would mean “increased expenditure, fragmentation of provision and could lead to the development of a two-tiered system”.
The INTO has in the recent past called for a wholly State-controlled education system. However, polling conducted by the Iona Institute has shown that a clear majority of parents want to be able to continue to choose denomination schooling.
The survey, carried out by Red C, showed that 73 per cent, almost three out of every four adults, believe parents should have the right to choose from a variety of publicly funded schools for their children. Among parents with dependent children, support for parental choice was even higher, at 78 per cent.
Just over a quarter of parents polled said that in order to promote social integration, all children should go to the same kind of school.
INTO General secretary John Carr said that, given the key part played in Irish education by the Catholic Church, any changes in governance needed to be clarified quickly.
In the Dáil, the Minister said Dr Martin had indicated that he had no specific locations in mind where one or more schools under his patronage might transfer to another patron in 2007.
But the issue was now being revisited as the planning section of his department examined future school accommodation needs.
In recent years two State-run primary schools have been established for the first time. Both operate under the aegis of the County Dublin Vocational Education Committee (VEC).
The issue of religious instruction in these schools has still to be fully clarified. The Department of Education has signalled that religious instruction will take place during school hours, but the churches want to ensure it is given by suitably qualified staff.
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