Children may get option of school across the border

Children in border communities may soon be able to opt to go to school in either the North or Republic.

Talks on the issue are continuing between both governments.

A survey of up to 50,000 families in the region will determine the demand from parents for schooling more suitable to their children’s religious backgrounds which could be available in the neighbouring jurisdiction.

The Irish Examiner understands that the survey will be carried out among communities linked to primary schools up to six miles either side of the border and second-level schools within a 12-mile radius.

“The survey will be aimed at parents with children in infants and sixth class at primary schools and first year of second level, and the equivalent in Northern Ireland,” an education source said.

The scope of the survey will be agreed at the next North-South Ministerial Council education meeting in May.

The results and proposals on the next stage will be examined at a meeting between Education Minister Ruairi Quinn and his Northern counterpart John O’Dowd early next year.

“The aim of the survey is to establish parental preference in schools and to enable those parents, who so wish, to send their children to schools on the other side of the border,” Mr Quinn said in response to a Dáil question from Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams.

Junior education minister Ciarán Cannon said they were trying to establish if a corridor could be created along the border, so students on both sides might cross it to access the type of education reflecting the ethos in which they are being raised.

The issue was raised in the Dáil on Thursday by Fianna Fáil education spokesman, the Cavan-Monaghan TD Brendan Smith, who expressed concern about the future of small rural Church of Ireland schools.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), which represents primary teachers on both sides of the border, said the initiative was welcome and greater North-South co-operation was long overdue.

“Surveying parents’ wishes is an important first step and work on allowing for greater mobility of teachers on the island should also be progressed,” said INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan.

At the last cross-border meeting of education ministers in Armagh earlier this month, Mr Quinn, Mr O’Dowd and Northern Ireland social development minister Nelson McCausland discussed the impact on schools of changes in population on both sides of the border.