THE chairman of the Hierarchy's education commission, Dr Thomas Flynn, has said "there is strong reason to believe aspects of the Education Bill are unconstitutional and will be challenged in the courts".
The Bishop of Achonry, who is also the Hierarchy's press spokesman, is quoted in the current issue of the Irish Catholic. The Hierarchy as a whole will issue a statement on the Education Bill later today.
This follows an unprecedented joint attack by the Catholic, Protestant and Muslim leaderships on the Bill which they claim would undermine the right of religious bodies to run their own schools.
Dr Flynn told the Irish Catholic: "Our second-level system has grown up in spite of opposition over many years dating back before 1922, from both the British and Irish governments. As a result the churches got very little support from the State until recently.
"It would be a pity now were the Government to try and take over these schools by turning them into State schools.
"The money which the State uses comes from the people and the people have given no indication that they want what the Government wants."
The Irish Catholic also quotes from a document from the Hierarchy's education commission which is believed to be the basis for the bishops' discussion of the Education Bill at Maynooth this week.
It says the Bill would put "major constraints" on religious-run schools' enrolment policy, establishment of boards of management, dismissal of teachers, sanctions on pupils and the role of the new education boards vis-a-vis the religious patrons.
"In the Bill large amounts of authority have now gone from the patron and the board of management to the Minister and the education board," it goes on.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Christian Solidarity Party, Dr Gerard Casey, called the Education Bill "a particularly brazen attempt by the State to convert the pluralist system of religious-run schools into a secular State-controlled system under the close control of the Minister for Education".
However, the National Parents Council-Primary said the Bill would both increase the participation of parents and citizens in their local schools, and respect and protect "the ethos and founding intention of the patrons. It is right and proper that parents who choose a particular school for its special ethos should be sure that this ethos is guaranteed."