THE Minister for Education said she would proceed with the introduction of religion as an exam subject following yesterday's High Court decision.
The judgment removes a significant legal obstacle which has prevented religion being examined in the Junior and Leaving Certs up to now. The last obstacle is an 1878 Act forbidding expenditure of State money on teaching religion as a State subject.
Draft Junior and Leaving Cert syllabuses which were presented to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment before Christmas are to be sent to the Minister shortly.
Teachers of religion have expressed fears that many students do not consider the subject important because it does not count for points for entry to third level.
The founding chairman of the Campaign to Separate Church and State, Mr John Colgan, said last night it was likely that his organisation would appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court.
Mr Colgan did not agree it followed from Article 42 of the Constitution that the State was obliged to finance chaplains operating specifically as priests.
He said clause four of that article, cited by Mr Justice Costello in his judgment, ruled only that parents were entitled to provide for the moral and religious formation of their children.
Mr Colgan also said he was surprised that the costs had been awarded against the campaign and its co plaintiff, Mr Jeremiah Noel Murphy. This was particularly so since the four Catholic archbishops had successfully applied to the Master of the High Court to be allowed join the State in the action - "so we ended up paying the costs of defendants we did not want, since our action was against the State for breaching the Constitution." It is estimated that the costs will be around £50,000.
Mr Colgan noted that Mr Justice Costello had estimated the cost to the State of around 60 Catholic community school chaplains at £1.2 million. He said that if yesterday's judgment was upheld, every secondary and vocational school would be entitled to have a chaplain at the State's expense, at an annual cost he estimated at £15 million.