Plans for school patronage welcomed

AMBITIOUS plans by Education Minister Ruairí Quinn to transfer up to half of Catholic primary schools to new patrons from early next year have been broadly welcomed.

The Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector will seek submissions in public meetings and discussions with stakeholders on how the education system can provide the number and range of primary schools to cater for all religions and none.

Of the country’s 3,200 primary schools, 91% are still under the patronage of a local Catholic bishop.

Consultations were started last autumn by the Catholic Schools Partnership (CSP) in some of the 43 areas identified by the Department of Education as having few, if any, non-Catholic schools.

But Mr Quinn wants as many as half of Catholic-controlled schools to change patrons and expects a report from the forum in October so the process can begin next January.

The forum will be chaired by former NUI Maynooth education professor John Coolahan and will ask representatives of religious leaders, other patron bodies, parents, school managers and teachers to take part.

The minister said the plan is not to discuss whether transfers are a good idea or not as that idea has now been accepted by all groups.

“It’s really to discuss the modalities and mechanisms whereby a school under the patronage of one body, primarily the Catholic Church, would come to an orderly decision to transfer that patronage to another patron body in a manner that does not damage the educational experience of the children or the working operational arrangements of the teachers and the parents and others involved,” he told RTÉ.

The Catholic Bishops’ Council for Education did not comment on the timescale or level of handovers, but will take part in the forum It said the work undertaken on its behalf by the CSP has analysed parental understanding of school patronage and a position paper on Catholic schools will be published next week.

“The results of this consultation will be analysed at four regional assemblies in June with representatives from all dioceses,” a Bishops’ Council statement said.

Áine Lynch, of the National Parents Council-Primary, said it is good that the issues will be debated by all parties but that the divesting of schools by the Catholic Church will not solve the problem in every area.

“In smaller communities, particularly where there can only be one school, you can’t provide exactly what everyone wants. So it’s important that we have a system that respects all the beliefs of people in each school community,” she said.

Educate Together, which is patron to 58 multi-denominational schools and has applications to open 70 more, said the review was long overdue.

Chief executive Paul Rowe said: “Over the last three years the previous administration held back the process of recognition of new Educate Together schools and had scant regard for the rights of parents.”