A chara, – Joe Humphreys writes about what the Catholic Church could do to solve "the school patronage problem" ("How the Catholic Church could solve the school patronage problem", Opinion & Analysis, July 27th). He rightly points out the lack of non-denominational schools in Ireland. He suggests something "the church could do overnight to create an inclusive education system" would be to "end its 'Catholic first' admissions policy in schools".
This is kicking the can down the road. The need to prioritise admissions arises wherever demand exceeds available spaces. In that scenario, one rationale for prioritising admissions would have to give way to another rationale.
If the Government were to do its own job, there would be no need for any such rationale, not even “first come, first served.” Perhaps Joe Humphreys could report on what schools under other patronage do to prioritise when demand for their places exceeds demand.
The responsibility for ensuring adequate appropriate places at each location is that of the Department of Education. Church patrons are willing to work with the department, but it is not their responsibility to provide non-denominational schools. Their input into the system since the start of primary education in the 19th century has rescued the State in a multitude of ways, and has saved the State enormous expense.
It’s like saying that there should be no waiting lists for hospitals or housing, of course. There is no “overnight” solution.
Has Joe Humphreys abandoned any hope of the Government doing its job in this matter? Turn the spotlight on the true root of the problem. – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Sandyford,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – There is one little word that affords religious institutions the right to trump any notion of equality of access to primary education in this country – “ethos”.
This little word, thanks to the Equal Status Act 2000, gives State-funded schools a licence to discriminate against children on the basis of religion. State-funded schools are entitled to admit baptised children from other catchment areas before they admit unbaptised children from their own. Parents are having their children baptised just so that they may access the local school. So much for freedom of conscience. This amounts to State-sponsored discrimination.
Our so-called republic has changed considerably in recent decades. The primary education system is not fit for purpose. The number of people in Ireland with no religion increased by 400 per cent between 1991 and 2011. A total of 28 per cent of marriages last year were non-religious, with 39.1 per cent in Dublin. The 2012 Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism survey, covering 57 countries across five continents, found that religiosity is falling faster in Ireland than any country in the west (only in Vietnam was religiosity falling faster).
Yet unbaptised children often have to wait until school waiting lists disappear before they are admitted.
Imagine if publicly funded hospitals were free to discriminate against unbaptised children in their admission policies and if this was permitted under legislation. Why should publicly funded schools be free to discriminate against children on these very grounds?
Of course, we could build more schools, but given fiscal constraints, I would guess this is a non-runner. Acceleration of the divestment process must be part of the solution.
Despite the litany of wrongs committed by the Catholic Church against children in this country, it still has a near total monopoly of primary school patronage – 93 per cent to be precise. This is an aberration compared to the situation in other developed countries.
Even Diarmuid Martin has said that the status quo is no longer tenable, that progress has been “far too slow” and that the process of divestment to be accelerated.
Despite the recommendations of the 2012 report on school patronage in the primary sector and the 2012 Department of Education surveys, which showed demand for change of patron in 28 of the 43 areas surveyed, to date just three schools have been transferred to non-religious patrons.
Paul Rowe of Educate Together recently wrote in this newspaper that the organisation is under “unprecedented pressure from parents all over the country to provide places in our schools”.
Further to Seamus McKenna’s wry observation (July 28th) that the Catholic Church has pressed the snooze button on the alarm clock, it might be more accurate to say that it has removed the battery. – Yours, etc,
ROB SADLIER,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.