Catholic education - Time to end dominance of one voice

WHETHER he said it or not the phrase sometimes attributed to Éamon de Valera – “a Catholic State for a Catholic people” – rang true, especially for non-Catholics, in this country for very many decades.

There were few spheres where this influence assumed more power, a more active presence, than in education. The Catholic Church dominated education for most of the last century and the consequent legacy still prevails. Its authority was absolute and Catholicism was not slow to wield its power; or as others might see it, impose its intolerance.

In living memory teachers were fired because their private lives did not satisfy Catholic expectations. It is only a few decades since some Catholics felt the need, or felt browbeaten enough, to seek the permission of their bishop to attend Trinity College.