FIVE NEW primary schools are to be established over the next two years under the patronage of the multi-denominational group Educate Together and the gaelscoil umbrella body, An Foras Pátrúnachta.
All five are in areas of rapid population growth in the Dublin commuter belt.
Educate Together will open schools in the Dublin suburbs of Blanchardstown west, Mulhuddart and Ashbourne, Co Meath. An Foras Pátrúnachta will open one inter-denominational school in west Dublin and one in Ashbourne.
There are no new Catholic schools in the list of new schools detailed by the Department of Education yesterday.
Last month, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin acknowledged the Catholic Church was over-represented in primary education, given the increasing secularisation of Irish society.
At present, the church controls 89.6 per cent of all primary schools in the State.
Earlier this year an internal department report said it is was no longer practical for “every student to be provided with access to a place in a school operated by a patron of their choice”.
In future, it says patrons must be able to show clear public demand for their proposed schools. In a proposal which could generate difficulties for Catholic schools, it also says patrons must demonstrate that the demand for any proposed new school is not already being met.
Last year, the department identified possible areas where the church might divest itself of certain primary schools.
The new programme for government promises a forum on patronage and pluralism in the primary sector which will sit for one year. This has been a long-term demand of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.
The forum’s recommendations will be drawn up into a White Paper for consideration and implementation by government to ensure that the education system can provide sufficiently diverse number of schools, catering for all religions and none.
