THE CHURCH of Ireland Bishop of Cork has accused the Minister for Education of hiding behind constitutional advice given to him on the funding of Protestant schools.“Are we seriously to believe that the founding fathers and framers of our Constitution envisaged a situation where this Republic would become a hostile place for the children of the Protestant minority?” the Right Rev Paul Colton asked yesterday in a speech at Midleton College, Co Cork.
Last Wednesday Batt O’Keeffe said a legal issue “arose in 1983/84 when Fine Gael and Labour were in government”.
“At the time, the proposal under consideration was to provide to Protestant schools alone low-interest loans from the State. The matter was considered by the Attorney General at the time and the advice was that the proposal could not be proceeded with because it would be in breach of Article 44.2.4.”
Yesterday a spokesman for the Department stood over the assertion, saying its “position is as outlined in the statement of 21st October”.
Church of Ireland sources have insisted to The Irish Times that the Minister’s statement is not true, as such low-interest loans were provided to Protestant schools in the 1980s. This was also confirmed by Dr John Harris, adviser to Gemma Hussey, the minister for education at the time.
Dr Harris said yesterday “there certainly were low-interest loans made available” to the Protestant schools. He believed the process of making such loans available had begun with the previous Charles Haughey administration (1982). He said he had “a rather vague recollection” the loans were provided “to help improve facilities for boarding schools”.
Ms Hussey had no specific recollection of the loans but she said she was, as minister for education, “always very, very sympathetic to the Protestant community”.
Dr Colton said yesterday that Mr O’Keeffe was incorrect to say he was still waiting to hear their proposals in response to what the Church of Ireland bishop described as “the budgetary brutality and financial backstreet butchery inflicted on Protestant schools in last year’s budget”.
“The bishops of the Church of Ireland and those who work with us have indeed responded to him since our meeting with him on 5th November, 2008.”
On March 6th last, the bishops had written to the Minister asking for reinstatement of the previous system. They received “only a pro forma acknowledgment”, he said.
On May 7th, Dr Colton and Canon John McCullagh of the church’s secondary education committee “spent nearly two hours in a meeting with some of the Minister’s most senior officials”.
There too they made the proposal that the situation which had pertained for more than 40 years be restored. “This is our proposal,” said Dr Colton, but the Minister “chooses not to hear it”.
Waterford Quakers said yesterday they were “appalled” at the “grossly unfair treatment” by the Minister of “the only Quaker secondary school in Munster”, which is located in the county.
They appealed to Mr O’Keeffe “to restore parity of esteem” where Protestant schools were concerned.
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