Church to base school admissions on location regardless of religious affiliation

The Catholic Church is set to make a “gesture” towards admitting pupils to its primary schools in Dublin based on location and regardless of their religious affiliation.

The departure was signalled by the general secretary of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA), Fr Tom Deenihan, at its AGM, when he also said it was “simply false” to assert that a pupil must be baptised to gain entry to a Catholic-run school.

The cleric also criticised politicians who “make broad statements” about schools under Catholic patronage without acknowledging the service those schools provide in their communities, and said school boards should invite local politians to witness at first hand the work being done: “It is easy to criticise a notional national concept, it is harder to reject local evidence.”