No school patronage turf war, says body

THERE is no reason why school trusts cannot continue to transfer buildings to other school patrons, the head of the body overseeing Ireland’s multi-denominational schools has said.

Paul Rowe, chief executive of Educate Together, which has almost 60 multi-denominational primary schools under its umbrella, was responding to questions from Professor John Coolahan, chairman of the advisory group to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector.

The chairman related the difficulties highlighted at the forum’s opening day by trustees and patrons of Catholic primary schools about trust law possibly preventing the hand-over, sale or lease of their properties to new patrons.