50 towns to see handover of school patronage

Nearly 50 communities around the country have been identified as the sites where the Catholic Church should first hand over control of primary schools.

This is one of the key recommendations in the long-awaited report of the advisory group to Education Minister Ruairí Quinn’s Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector.

Following almost a year of consultations, it also calls for changes to how denominational schools in areas where choice remains limited, cater for an increasingly diverse pupil population.