Controversy over admission into Catholic schools

THE Catholic Church should give up control of schools because many of them are enrolling their own members before children of other faiths, a parents leader said at the weekend.

Most of the country’s 3,300 primary schools are under the patronage of the Catholic Church, and many communities have no other choice of school.

Fionnuala Kilfeather, chief executive of the National Parents Council (Primary), said schools are legally bound to respect the diversity of values, beliefs, traditions and ways of life in our multicultural society. She was addressing delegates at the council’s annual conference in Castlebar.