School patronage - Children are the central concern

Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn yesterday opened the three-day Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector. It has been set up to decide what role the Church will play in the area of school patronage into the future.

The forum has been set up against the backdrop of significant changes in society over recent years. These changes have led to increased demands for new forms of multi-denominational and non-denominational schooling, as well as increased demands for Irish language schools. Pluralism in education was also a fundamental aspect of the Government White Paper on Education published in 1995. This was endorsed by the National Education Conference.

The forum must, therefore, tackle important questions relating to the need for greater diversity in the face of rapid changes in the make-up of our community. Mr Quinn had previously said he would like to see half of the 3,000 Catholic primary schools transferred from Church control. When asked yesterday he explained that the Catholic Church had itself come up with that figure based on research it had carried out among Catholic parents. He also suggested that while he was not prescribing any recommendation, he did want change to reflect the new reality on the ground.

The forum should be warmly welcomed because the issue of patronage is an important question that needs to be addressed in a rapidly changing Ireland.

The bishops have warned of terrible antagonism if the communities are not involved in this process. They are right and this forum provides an opportunity for all those who are interested to have their say.

A recent National Parents Council survey found Irish parents were evenly divided on the issue of whether or not Catholic children should be prepared for the sacraments during the school day or outside school hours. Such issues need to be resolved and this should pose no small challenge for the independent advisory group appointed to analyse and evaluate all the submissions to the forum and present an interim report to a conference in the autumn.

It is clear that the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector must not be allowed to become a contest between the views of interest groups, or those who shout the loudest about whether the Church should have the ultimate say or no say at all in primary education.

It should not be about what the clergy, the Government or the politicians want.

It should be about what parents want and the paramount consideration throughout this process must remain what is best for our children.