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The Catholic Church in Ireland has been told it must divert itself of 23 primary schools across the country following a survey of parental preferences for more plurality and choice.
The bishops in the 23 areas have been given six months to provide detailed proposals on how they plan to divest a school of their patronage.
“I would hope and expect during that period a suitable school will be identified by them within the various towns and arrangements will be made for the orderly transfer of the patronage of that school back to the Department of Education,” said the Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn.
The change follows a Department of Education survey in 38 areas of nearly 11,000 parents of children aged up to 12 years, as part of a drive to provide plurality and choice in the types of primary schools in Ireland.
Of those, 23 areas signalled a demand for change towards a more diverse choice of schools. Twenty-two of the areas will see the establishment of an English language multi-denominational school and one area will see an Irish language school established.
One likely scenario is the joining of two existing schools, possibly two single-sex boys’ and girls’ schools, so a school building would be freed up to house a new multidenominational school.
The chairman of the bishops’ Council for Education, Father Michael Drumm, welcomed the report but said attention must be given to the “large majority” of parents who expressed no interest in change.
In the 23 areas, between 2.2 per cent and 8 per cent of parents favoured change, he said. The problem on the ground was that numbers displaced could be greater than numbers catered for.
In Celbridge, county Kildare, some 100 parents desired a different type of school but the smallest Catholic school that could be divested had a roll of 300 children, he said.
About 86 per cent of primary schools in Ireland are run by the Catholic Church and about 10 per cent by other religious denominations.
Sources:
Irish Department of Education and Skills
Image: Irish Catholic
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