The Department of Education will shortly be releasing details of ten urban areas where it believes there is a surplus of Catholic schools and a need for some of them to shut down. In a significant statement on the issue of patronage, the Minister for Education said it would be up to the church itself to identify the particular schools in these areas that should close.
Batt O'Keeffe said a working group in his department would then decide on a replacement patron for those schools.
Mr O'Keeffe was addressing the AGM of the Catholic Primary School Managers' Association.
His comments follow a meeting last November between department officials and Catholic Bishops where the department undertook to examine locations where a need for a change of school patronage might exist.
The Catholic Church currently runs 92% of Ireland's primary schools.
The church has previously acknowledged that its percentage of primary schools may ultimately fall from over 90% to 50% or 60% of the total.
Referring to the areas that his department had identified, Mr O'Keeffe said in an area with an 80% Catholic population it was likely that one in five schools would close.
He said two schools out of five could close where just 60% of the population was Catholic.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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SIC: RTÉ