Religion in schools - Abolish Rule 68

The abolition of Rule 68, which stipulates that religious instruction is the most important part of the primary school curriculum, is not before time.

Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan has agreed that it should go but there are other archaic elements of the Rules for National Schools, a set of regulations drawn up in 1965 to govern primary education, that are equally objectionable and should be reviewed and, if necessary, abolished.

They have no statutory basis but are hugely influential, being largely responsible for the dominance of religious-run schools in Ireland. Currently 97% of primary schools here are run by the churches, in the vast majority of cases by the Catholic Church.

The admissions policy, which is governed by legislation, also needs to be tackled yet Ms O’Sullivan’s new Admission to Schools Bill, currently before the Oireachtas, does not even address it, let alone propose changes.

Without a pluralist education system, we will never achieve a pluralist society.