The Education Bill currently being drafted is based on the White Paper recommendations and extensive consultations with the education partners and contains many worthwhile provisions. It proposes greater public accountability and more democratic involvement in educational management, provides that boards of management and parents' associations should be obligatory in all - schools and that new administrative structures such as regional education boards should be set up. The Bill is expected to spell out in much clearer terms than ever before the basic structures of Irish education, its aims and the respective rights of the various parties.
Most of Irish education is not governed by legislation. The system has largely evolved through ministerial decisions allied with a complicated labyrinth of negotiations and compromises between the churches, the State, the teachers and - latterly - parents. The structure of community schools, for example, came about not through legislation, but through negotiations with the bishops, religious orders, vocational education committees (VECs) and teachers' unions. An education act which will give a legislative base to the educational system as a whole is a very desirable move.
Once the exercise began it was inevitable that the churches would want the denominational ethos of their schools enshrined in law. The churches - Catholic, Protestants and other - at present own, control and run most of the schools. It was not to be expected that they would meekly agree to legal provisions materially reducing their existing rights - particularly as the Minister at the same time is trying to impose new structures in the shape of regional boards.
In the complex negotiations of the past 18 months, the two main churches have been virtually guaranteed that the "denominational ethos" of their schools will be allowed to continue if the number of church nominees on their boards is reduced and two outside representatives are added. For their part, the churches want the right to choose the two additional representatives or want them, in the case of Protestant schools, to be parochial vestrymen. The chairmanship of boards would remain under church control.
In effect, it is not proposed to give the churches more powers than at present, but to enshrine those powers in legislation. The effect of this is to copperfasten the denominational stranglehold on Irish education and fossilise church influence at the present level. This is proposed precisely when church control is under increasing scrutiny and when many religious in teaching orders would like to see their role evolve. Pupil numbers are falling, so changes such as the provision of more multi denominational education will only come about through converting existing schools rather than building new ones.
Much is to be welcomed in the proposed Bill; and it must be regretfully acknowledged that, in current circumstances, it is impossible to imagine a minister introducing reforms which do not recognise the denominational grip on Irish education. If however, this section is not drafted in the broadest and most flexible terms possible, its effect will be not to introduce greater democratic control, but to freeze all hope of reform for decades to come. It is not a prospect that Ms Breathnach can altogether relish for her place in educational history.