Govt urged to make progress on transfers of school patronage

The Government is being urged to make progress on the divestment of schools to other patrons.

Chairman of the forum on patronage and pluralism Prof John Coolahan told the Irish Times the Department of Education needed to push the Catholic Church on the issue to hurry things along.

Former Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn announced a process he hoped would lead to the immediate divestment of up to 50 Catholic primary schools around the country in 2012.

But education correspondent with the Irish Times Joe Humphreys said no Catholic primary schools had so far been transferred to new patronage.

"The figures are damning," he said. "There's been one case where two schools amalgamated creating a vacancy for an Educate Together school in Basin Lane in Dublin, but that wasn't a transfer of patronage.

"There's only been one actual transfer (of patronage) which was a Church of Ireland school outside Ballina last September."