THE Government and Church remained split over education last night after Education Minister Mary Hanafin ruled out a bishops' veto over religion teachers in new state-run primary schools. Ms Hanafin said the teachers would be appointed by the Co Dublin Vocational Education Committee (VEC) but there was "absolutely no question" of any outside body having a veto over any appointments.
However, while denying that it was seeking a full veto, the Church confirmed it did want the Archbishop to see potential candidates for teaching jobs, and was still hoping to negotiate on the issue.
Ms Hanafin yesterday said the Government was deliberately opening three multi-faith primary schools in September to cater for children of all faiths and none.
She said that a number of meetings had been held with the various parties, including the Catholic Church, since last April when the bishops put forward their "protocols" for the new schools.
As disclosed yesterday, these included the demand that "teachers delivering religious instruction to Catholic students will be duly qualified and approved by the competent religious authorities".
Demand
The demand has angered the INTO whose general secretary John Carr suggested that the Church was trying to "have its cake and eat it".
He said that what passed for consultation by the Department of Education and Science had been exposed.
But Monsignor Dan O'Connor of the Catholic Primary School Management Association said references to a veto were "over the top".
However, he said that what was proposed was that the VEC would see the names of the persons proposed for the teaching of religion.
These would be sent to the Archbishop to see if he was satisfied with their qualifications.
"If the diocese says that a person is not qualified, they have to publicly state and give a reason why that is the way," he said, stressing that this was not a veto.
He added that what was being looked for was open to negotiation.
The Bishops' Education Commission said what the Church was seeking was a similar arrangement to that already applied in community colleges run by the VEC.
Ms Hanafin confirmed that a conference will be held in June on "the governance challenge for future primary education needs".
This will allow all of the stakeholders, including the INTO, to publicly consider the implications of diversity for the future organisation of schools.
But Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes said a one-day "toothless" conference that will last a few hours was not acceptable when a comprehensive debate bringing in all education partners and political parties was needed.
When he raised the issue of holding an all-inclusive and comprehensive forum on diversity with Ms Hanafin last year, she dismissed it as a "talking shop".
Mr Hayes said: "Now, it seems she has belatedly accepted that she was wrong but has instead offered a conference that will only last a few hours and may not bring in all relevant educational partners. That is unacceptable."
Enrolments are currently taking place for the new schools which open in the autumn.
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