Comment: Parents' choice is stifled due to the dominance of Catholic ethos schools

Former biochemist, education professional and mother, Catherine O’Mahony on why we must decouple education and religion in order to give our children the education they deserve

90% of publicly funded primary schools fall under Catholic patronage.

“Momma, holy dog lives in the sky and looks after the dead babies”, lisped my 4-year-old as she trotted in home after her day at preschool. I groaned inwardly having thought I would have had a bit longer before intentionally talking about religion at home and having to explain our non-religious position. While the preschool incident was reflective of what her peers were talking about, lack of choice of schools has meant we attend a Catholic ethos primary school under the patronage of the Catholic church.

So far our school has been very supportive of our choice to be excused from religious studies and we were anticipating engaging in project work this year instead of First Communion preparations. I was deeply upset to see the emergence of the Flourish curriculum this week as a supplement to the Social, Personal and Health Education programme.