Hanafin should invest in faith schools only

GIVEN the importance of a rounded education, it was unbelievable to hear the puerile comments from Education Minister Mary Hanafin in a number of recent interviews on the subject.

The minister proudly announced that she would be bringing forward proposals to cater for the educational needs of those of all religions and of none.

These puerile soundbites may sound trendy and ‘sophisticated’ in RTÉ interviews.

However, the minister’s remit is to provide a world-class education system for this country, not to indulge the whims of Dublin 4. The history of the last century shows that it is an act of gross irresponsibility for anyone, least of all a minister for education, to encourage a religion-free educational system.

These failed experiments have been tried extensively in the US and Britain for the last 30 years or so with disastrous results.

They have failed to such an extent that responsible parents go to extreme measures, in terms of long distance trips, etc, to get their children into faith schools.

Yet Ms Hanafin wishes to foist these crazy ideas on an unsuspecting Irish public. Apart from anything else, the minister is charged with the responsibility of dispensing her not inconsiderable budget in the best interests of the taxpayer.

She is perfectly free to float her loony ideas in a private capacity, but in terms of results/value for money, the evidence clearly shows that the most efficient use of taxpayers’ money in this context is a massive injection of funds into faith schools and a positive discrimination against the proven inefficiency of alternative school types.

St Thomas Aquinas famously stated that “the mind is naturally capable of knowing everything that exists”. This mind-expanding idea underpins the ideology of faith schools — our students deserve nothing less.

Eric Conway

7 Balreask Village

Navan

Co Meath