THE battle for control of new primary schools stepped up a gear yesterday with the Catholic Church seeking an urgent meeting with Taoiseach Brian Cowen.The Church is insisting on the right of Catholic parents to have Catholic schools for their children, if they so wish.
Vocational education committees have made it clear that they want more community national schools built under the VEC system.
But the Catholic school authorities expressed concern that this was becoming the only model for developing areas, and would also spread to rural areas.
Urgent
They are seeking an urgent meeting with the Taoiseach to discuss the Government's policy towards new primary schools.
They are also obtaining legal advice on what they see as the threat to the constitutional rights of parents to choose schools for their children.
Outgoing Catholic Primary School Management Association secretary general Monsignor Dan O'Connor said the organisation was very concerned about recent statements made by Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe.
Mr O'Connor told the Irish Independent that the association welcomed the review and the new community school model. But it was concerned at the anti-rural nature of some statements made by the minister, who has suggested that schools would need more than the current minimum enrolment of 17 infants to open.
However, the Irish Vocational Education Association was told that provision of new primary schools could not be based on parental choice alone.
"There has to be a limit on the number of schools and patron types," said general secretary Michael Moriarty.
He added that exchequer constraints meant there could never be an unlimited choice of schools.
"I am firmly committed to the principle of trying to accommodate different cultural and/or religious identities under one roof -- where there is a demand for such a school with a particular community identity and focus," he said.
"Saying that is not to deny denominational schools; it is merely to address the features, which I believe should be the hallmark of a community national school".
He said that the association was calling for the roll-out of the new community national school model to VECs nationwide. It was as a further tailored response to the educational needs of communities that were growing in diversity by the day.
The general secretary also had a sideswipe at Educate Together for claiming that its model of multi-denominational schooling surpassed anything on offer from the VECs.
Community colleges and the new community national schools arose from partnership between the VECs and other patrons, he said. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Sotto Voce
(Source: IE)