Quinn to address Church's patronage of primary schools at AGM

The Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is expected to address the issue of the Catholic Church's ownership of primary schools at the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association's AGM today.

The theme for this years AGM is "having faith in our schools".

Mr Quinn has said he would like to see around half of all currently Catholic primary schools transferred to multi-denominational patronage.

The Catholic bishops have said previously that they are agreeable to divesting schools, provided these arrangements respect the rights of Catholic parents, in particular in relation to religious instruction of their children.

Both Church and State have been keen to reassure parents that change will only come with the agreement of parents and school communities.