Schools should be allowed to decide on the right balance between their religious ethos and the rights of staff despite plans to give legal protection to gay or divorced teachers, a Catholic schools leader has said.

Churches have serious concerns about the religious identity of their schools as a result of moves to make them more inclusive, a Catholic schools leader said.

Plans to overhaul the system of religious patronage in primary schools was broadly welcomed yesterday, with many claiming it was merely the start of a process of change.

Strong differences persist about religious teaching and the dominance of church patrons in schools ahead of the publication of a major report on the issues in the coming weeks.

The Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) has described as “unhelpful and likely to cause upset” comments by clinical psychologist Tony Humphreys that inferred parents of children with autism were to blame for their child’s condition.

CATHOLIC primary schools are to be asked to consider if they might hand control to another patron — though both the timeframe and the number of schools which might change hands remain unclear.

THE opportunity to create a greater choice of schools for parents was lost during the boom, a Catholic education leader has claimed.

THE National Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector is the body charged with mapping out the future of the country’s 3,200 primary schools.

THE decision on whether or which schools should be divested to new patrons should not be decided by a simple local vote, parents and Catholic bishops appeared to agree yesterday.

IT WAS almost inevitable that Catholic figures less amenable to change than Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin would adopt positions on school patronage far less compromising than his in advance of this week’s forum on school patronage.

CATHOLIC Church representatives have said reports that up to 50% of Catholic schools will be transferred to other patrons under a new Government initiative are “way over the top”.

Ruairí Quinn’s moves to transfer some Catholic schools to other patrons has been well received, writes Education Correspondent Niall Murray

THE next move towards handing over patronage of some primary schools has been left up to Catholic bishops after the identification of 43 areas where there is potential to give up control.

IT’S not an image he will like, but Google — the world’s most popular internet search engine — could be displaying a “doodle” showing “an anxious” Brain Cowen and forlorn Celtic Tiger this St Patrick’s Day.