Legal changes to primary school patrons face delay

LEGAL changes to allow vocational education committees become patrons of primary schools face delay as the control of schools comes under close scrutiny.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said he wants to see first what emerges from public consultations in the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism, launched this week, before deciding whether to proceed with the relevant sections of the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010, published last September.

It was intended to enable VECs to act as patrons of community national schools, which provide multi-denominational education for children of all faiths and none.