THE ISSUE of religious control of schools is “very fraught” and will pose difficult challenges for the Government, Minister for Education Mary Coughlan has been warned by her department.
In briefing material which was prepared for the newly appointed Minister last March, Ms Coughlan was told of growing calls for a secular and less segregated system of education.
However, officials also said demand for Catholic schools remained strong, with fresh requests for new Catholic secondary schools in parts of the country where there had been an increase in population.
The latest figures show the Catholic Church is the patron of more than 90 per cent of primary schools in the State.
The church is also the dominant force at second level, controlling more than 400 of the 700 second-level schools.
The debate over the church’s control of schools was heightened following the publication of the Ryan and Murphy reports last year into the abuse of children in its care.
“The whole issue of school patronage in a changing landscape is a very fraught one,” the briefing material says.
“We are in a very difficult space of how we can reconcile conflicting objectives: the traditional rights of different religious groupings to have their own State-funded schools, rights of those who want secular education, desirability of inclusive schooling and the need to avoid segregated schooling.
“This is all against a landscape where education provision reflects the historic dominance of Catholic education.”
While the department has recognised growing numbers of secular schools at both primary and secondary level in recent years, it says there is widespread demand for a greater diversity of schools.
These conflicting objectives are even more acute at second level, according to officials.
“The desire by Educate Together to be recognised for new second-level schools and the request for new Catholic schools poses difficult questions about the framework for recognising new second-level schools,” according to the briefing material, which was released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The department has been holding private talks with the church over the patronage of schools.
Batt O’Keeffe, Ms Coughlan’s predecessor as minister at the department, has said that nothing would change in the patronage of church-run schools without the full and prior consultation of local communities.
This process could involve holding plebiscites to test local views, while discussions would also have to take place with alternative patrons.
The multi-denominational group Educate Together has been mentioned as one body which could take over management of the schools.
Local vocational education committees could also have a crucial role.
Two new State-run community primary schools have been established on a pilot basis under the umbrella of the Dublin Vocational Education Committee (VEC).
Senior figures have sent out mixed messages about the church’s patronage of both primary and secondary schools in recent months.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has acknowledged that the church is over-represented in primary education.
However, Cardinal Seán Brady has issued a staunch defence of the church’s continued role in education.
Cardinal Brady has said that if parents wanted to send their children to a Catholic school, then the school should have the right to Government funding if it complied with the State curriculum.