Jim Cooke recounts the chastening experience of a group of parents in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, who tried to set up a multi-denominational school in their area in the 1970s. "It was, in retrospect, not a great deal for a responsible group of parents to ask for," he writes in the last chapter of his recently launched Marley Grange Multi-denominational School Challenge 1973-1978. As the back cover explains this is "a story of attrition whereby vested interests of church and government sought to maintain the status quo".

As Cooke observes, "it was the perfect right of a body such as the Catholic Church to refuse to co-operate, but the Minister for Education was in a totally different position, and relationship to parents, in a democracy."

The outcome made a mockery of the parents' hopes for multi-denominational schooling: "there were two new schools built in the area, a Catholic school in Marley Grange and a Church of Ireland school in Whitechurch".

However, as Professor Aine Hyland of UCC said at the book's launch: "The apparent failure of Marley Grange contributed in no small way to the success of the Dalkey School Project." Today, she added, "there are 15 multi-denominational schools in the system - a tribute to the commitment and determination of their founders". Cooke chronicles the story of how the Marley Grange initiative got under way at community level on foot of a survey carried out by a subcommittee of the residents' association. He outlines the sociological features of the early 1970s, he follows the course of the campaign to establish the school and, finally, he deals with the implications for the present and future - and for social and education policy generally. The history of the campaign itself is complex and has many dimensions - the saga of the school site, the public debates and coverage in the media, approaches to the Department and the individual churches, the various meetings with representatives from the different groups involved, and so on.

Cooke writes in a strong, detached and concise way about events that must have been highly charged and emotional at the time. The unadorned facts are themselves damning indictments of the "denominational separateness" that existed. Once in a while, Cooke - with his own intimate knowledge of events - is able to explain the general feeling or mood of the committee, giving an extra dimension to the story of Marley Grange.

The book will appeal especially to those interested in an initiative that came up against those old bogeymen of Church and State.