The Government's drastic cuts in spending on school buildings will have a "devastating impact" on multidenominational schools, while strengthening religious-run schools, it was claimed yesterday.
Educate Together, the national organisation for multidenominational schools, said most of the Department of Education's funds appeared to be going into refurbishment and renovation of existing schools, despite rapidly rising demand among parents for new types of schools.
Its chairman, Mr Paul Rowe, said this would inevitably strengthen the monopoly position of privately owned denominational schools, mainly Catholic and Church of Ireland. He said that in the past few weeks his group had been told that six new schools must be housed in temporary accommodation for more than five years and possibly up to eight years. This was until the Department of Education was able to acquire a site and provide a permanent building.
"In 2000, new Educate Together schools were required to provide temporary accommodation for two years. In 2001, the figure was increased to three. The fact that the Department is now seeking more than five years shows that the capital allocation for real change in the system has been axed, with all available capital being ploughed into refurbishment and renovation programmes for existing schools.
"To expect a new school association, on their own initiative and at the outset, to provide school accommodation for such lengths of time, is completely unrealistic. It is a huge obstacle to the development of such parent initiated schools," he said.
An examination of the budget figures for education by the group showed a substantial reduction in the allocation for capital funding for primary schools, from €150 million in 2001 to €131 million this year.