LARRY McCLUSKEY,
Sir, - Towards the end of her excellent recent analysis of the Dunboyne débâcle, Mary Holland referred to an alleged lack of Protestant representation on boards of VEC schools in counties Cavan and Monaghan. Let me outline the factual position in Co Monaghan.
First, the VEC itself has Protestant representation - the electing county council makes specific provision for that and has done so for more than 25 years. (The same provision is made for Catholic representation.)
Co Monaghan school boards of management consist of three parents, three teachers and three VEC members, plus up to two extra members, co-opted from other local "constituencies", - e.g., minority denominations, business or other relevant interests. The co-option provision is there to "round out" community representation on local school boards. In fact, both business and minority religion representatives have been appointed down the years, and no request for additional Protestant representation has ever been made to, or refused by, this VEC.
In the case of Largy College, Clones - which resulted from the agreed amalgamation of a VEC and a Catholic diocesan school - the VEC and the Catholic Diocese of Clogher, of their own volition, made specific provision for minority religious representation on the school board; and Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist communities have arranged their own rota to fill this position since 1993.
Apart from these specific, structured arrangements, some members of the Protestant community have won their way on to VEC and school boards by different routes - e.g. via our county parents' association, teachers' union and, of course, the political system - all three in recent years.
In light of these realities, I feel it is inaccurate and unfair to characterise our system as excluding Protestants, whose involvement is, in fact, both vigorous and valued - if not quite as numerous as we would wish. (It must be remembered, too, that the Protestant community has its own denominational schools, primary and secondary, to govern and support.)
More generally, the sooner Irish schools, North and South, are less segregated by religion, gender and social class, the better for society as a whole - but there are powerful vested interests, including all the churches and a conservative middle-class, to be shifted en route to that happy day!
Returning to Dunboyne, there is something shameful and disquieting about a school principal being sacked for attempting - honestly, even if awkwardly, to honour the ill-defined ethos of his school.
Whatever "interdenominational" means - and it is now clear that that is very unclear - it is different from "denominational". In a Catholic school, the sacraments are taught in school time; according to An Foras Patrúnachta and the Dunboyne board of management, the very same should apply in an "interdenominational" school. Is the only difference that in a Catholic school there are no Protestants to be asked to leave or "allowed to stay"?
And "ethos" is not as clinically definable or immutable as Ms Jacqueline Ni Fearghusa of An Foras pontifically states (as Gaeilge i dTuarascail), requiring of a principal and others, it seems, only obedience. Clearly, An Foras has some deeper and more generous thinking to do if it is to serve the needs of its diverse clientele - even the churches recognise that life is not that simple these days! (One reason why some of them want out of school ownership and governance, incidentally.)
The only good outcome of the Dunboyne débâcle - if at huge cost to one individual - is that there now must, and hopefully soon will, be constructive public debate, leading to clarification for school patrons, administrators and parents of such terms as "interdenominational", "multi-denominational", non-denominational", "ecumenical", "multicultural", "rich cultural and religious diversity", "secularism", etc. - terms we have too smugly and glibly used in the past.
Meanwhile, An t-Uasal Ó Dulaing deserves our respect and appreciation at least as much as our sympathy - the famous McGahern case comes, sadly, if also optimistically, to mind. - Yours, etc.,
LARRY McCLUSKEY, Chief Executive Officer, Co Monaghan VEC, Market Street, Monaghan..