Education spokesmen for the two main Opposition parties have called for a national forum on school patronage, while the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation has said detailed public debate and consultation is needed on planned changes in education. They were responding to the speech by Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe in Dublin yesterday at the agm of the Catholic Primary School Management Association.
Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes said “many parents will feel that a deal between the Catholic Church and the State has been done behind their backs following Minister O’Keeffe’s statement”.
He continued: “The fact that Minister OKeeffe cannot identify the 10 areas where he believes some Catholic schools could be divested highlights his failure to bring forward a coherent plan which has the support of parents in this entire debate.”
He repeated “the suggestion I made over two years ago that a national forum on the issue of school patronage needs to be established. Bilateral agreements between the State and any of the patrons in Irish education are no substitute for a public discussion on this issue. Labour Party education spokesman Ruarí Quinn welcomed the Minister’s announcement that “his department will shortly be releasing details of 10 urban areas where it believes that there is a surplus of Catholic schools and a need for some of them to shut down”.
He hoped it indicated that the Government was “beginning to accept that there is now a compelling case for moving towards a new system of patronage that takes account of changing views in regard to religion and education”.
It was “also important that the proposed areas should be selected on a fair basis . . . and that there should be no question of ‘cherry picking’ schools in areas of higher income,” he said.
He too believed “that the way in which we should now proceed is through the establishment of a national forum on patronage in primary schools” involving all stakeholders, “parents, patrons, teachers, principals and others”.
INTO general secretary John Carr was disappointed that the Minister ruled out a discussion forum on changes in school patronage. – Patsy McGarry