Patronage forum attempts to establish ‘transparent’ process

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.

The Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector is trying to establish the most transparent ways to decide what areas such transfers might take place in. But deciding how the schools are picked will also be a vital part of its recommendations to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn.

The forum advisory group chairman Professor John Coolahan suggested to representatives of the Catholic bishops, patrons to almost 90% of the country’s’ 3,300 primary schools, that they could take greater leadership.