Religion to be optional at second level

Students at hundreds of second-level schools will no longer have to sit through religion classes against their wishes or to take personal study time instead.

The directive, by Education Minister Richard Bruton, will effectively make religion an optional subject in more than 300 multi-denominational second-level schools.

They include more than 80 community schools where the local education and training board are co-trustees with a religious patron, usually the local Catholic bishop.