MORE THAN 80 per cent of primary teachers believe the Catholic Church should relinquish control of some or all of its schools.
But only 36 per cent believe the State should take over the running of all primary schools. These are the main findings of a comprehensive poll by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) on Catholic school patronage.
The poll comes as the Department of Education drafts an initial list of 10-12 urban areas where it believes the Catholic Church could divest itself of some schools.
The Irish Timesunderstands this list will be sent to the Catholic bishops next month. But education sources say some Catholic bishops have been slow to co-operate with the proposed handover of schools to multi-denominational and other groups. Instead, some bishops want the department to build new schools for non-Catholics, a proposal rejected as not feasible by the department.
Discussions between the department and church representatives have been continuing since November. In the most recent meeting, department officials met Fr Michael Drumm, executive chairman of the Catholic Schools Partnership.
The new poll reveals a clear majority (67 per cent) teach religion willingly and more than half are comfortable doing this. But almost a quarter (24 per cent) say they are uncomfortable teaching it.
A striking feature of the poll is how cautious teachers are about alternatives to the current structure, which many believe have not been properly teased out.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has acknowledged the Catholic Church is over-represented in primary education, where it controls over 90 per cent of schools.
But education sources say Dr Martin has been slow to identify schools that could be divested of Catholic controls. It is understood that former minister for education Batt O’Keeffe was frustrated by what was seen as a lack of full co-operation by Dr Martin.
The 10-12 locations that will be identified by the department are all settled areas with little population growth. In most cases, they are areas where there are three or four Catholic primary schools and no other school patron.
The Catholic bishops will be asked by the department to formally respond to the initial list.
But sources stress that there will also be full consultations with parents, teachers and local communities.
The INTO polled a representative sample of 348 teachers in every county. Asked if the State should take over control of all primary schools 36 per cent said Yes, 31 per cent No and 32 per cent did not know.
In all 34 per cent said the church should give up control of all its schools while a further 47 per cent said it should relinquish control of some schools.
