End the row, says archbishop

Day of mourning: An archbishop has called for an end to squabbling over a national day of mourning, but called on schools to mark the Pope's death by taking Friday off.

The Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Dr Dermot Clifford, said the row over arrangements for the day was "unbecoming" and should cease.

"The Holy Father would not have wanted people arguing in this way," he said. But he added that schools should take the option of closing, for the sake of younger pupils in particular.

"Small children will always remember that they got the day off for the Pope's funeral. It might not mean as much for the older students, but it would be a pleasurable memory for the little ones," he said.

His advice puts him at odds with the National Parents Council (Primary), which has said that encouraging children to reflect on the Pope's life and death could best be done at school.

The council's chief executive, Fionnuala Kilfeather, reiterated the view yesterday, saying that, if schools closed on Friday, older children would spend the day "off on their own", while parents of younger children would be too busy organising child-minders to have any time for reflection.

It was not for the NPC to say whether not not schools should close, Ms Kilfeather said, but she disagreed with Archbishop Clifford's suggestion that a day off would help children remember the event.

"Children get days off for lots of different things. It might be more memorable if they spent the day in school, doing special studies about the Pope's life," she said,

If reflection really was the object of the exercise, she said, the school curriculum offered many ways to do this.

The Pope's travels were a lesson in geography, for example, while history could take in his role in the downfall of communism.

His life also illustrated "very good things about disability", she added.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Clifford called on the general public to abide by the Government's decision not to have a national day of mourning, and avoid further acrimony.

"I'm happier that there's no day of mourning and people are complaining about this, than if there had been a day of mourning and people were criticising it. That would have been worse."