Free Catholic education at risk, claims group

FREE Catholic education could become a thing of the past if trusts replacing religious orders who pull out of hundreds of secondary schools are not run properly.

The warning came from Catholic parents as four of the biggest religious congregations continue plans to hand over control of more than 200 schools around the country.

The Christian Brothers are likely to have given ownership of almost 70 second-level schools within two or three years to a number of trusts that will eventually be entirely non-religious.