'Religious ethos' has no place in Irish schools according to the Labour Party's spokesman on education.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD, vice-chair of the Oireachtas education committee, told The Irish Catholic ''that religious ethos has no place in the educational system of a modern republic''.
His comments come as senior Church sources have accused the Labour Party of ''bullying'' Catholic schools by falsely accusing them of breaking the law over enrolment policies that admit Catholic children ahead of other children if the school is over-subscribed.
The accusation comes in a Labour Party document circulated to Catholic schools.
The document -- known within the Labour Party as the 'Clontarf Report' -- insists that the schools are acting illegally when they give preference to Catholic children in the event of demand for places outstripping availability.
However, one senior Church source said ''there isn't anyone working in the legal profession who would take such a claim seriously. This is nothing more than bullying''.
''The Department [of Education and Skills] fully acknowledges that faith-based schools have a right to admit children of their own faith before those of others where the local faith-based school is over-subscribed,'' the source said.
Deputy Ó Ríordáin, a former principal in a Catholic school, confirmed that he is supportive of the 'Clontarf' position yet, while accusing Catholic schools of breaking the law, the deputy also calls for the existing law to be changed, saying: ''I would like to see the law amended so that faith-based schools would be unable to reserve places for children of a particular denomination where a school is over-subscribed."
''I see no reason for to give a faith-based school any protection'' to ensure that it can fulfil its mission to provide a faith-based education in line with the denominational ethos of the school by way of an admissions policy, he said.
Dr John Murray of Mater Dei Institute of Education said the Labour move amounted to an attempt to ''intimidate'' the schools.
He said: ''I hope this isn't indicative of the attitude of the wider Labour Party to denominational schools because if it is, it is deeply worrying and needs to be strongly resisted. It is nothing less than an attack on the religious freedom of denominational schools,'' he said.
Dr Murray insisted that such a push would not just affect Catholic schools.
''A curb on the enrolment policy of denominational schools would hit Church of Ireland schools particularly hard because Church of Ireland children are often a small minority in their own communities and if their schools couldn't admit Church of Ireland children first, then they would face the prospect of having to turn away the very children they were established to serve,'' he said.
Mr Ó Ríordáin's trenchant views will surprise many coming just months after Education Minister and Mr Ó Ríordáin's party colleague Ruairí Quinn told a conference in Dublin's Mater Dei Institute that ''religious education will have an important place in the future of education in Ireland''.
Mr Quinn has also insisted that denominational schools will continue to be supported by the Government, apparently putting him at odds with Mr Ó Ríordáin.
''It begs the question: 'what does the Labour Party really have in store for Catholic education','' another senior Church source said.
''Is it Mr Quinn or Mr Ó Ríordáin who is articulating where the party is coming from? Catholic voters have a right to know,'' he said.
A recent profile of Mr Ó Ríordáin by The Irish Times education editor Seán Flynn said the Dublin North Central deputy ''is viewed as a future education minister''.
It noted that he has been a ''major influence'' on Minister Quinn.