Menu
Ireland's political and cultural magazine
— October – November 2013
OPINION iVana baCiK
M
INISTER Ruairí Quinn has just announced a consul-
tation process on religious and cultural inclusion in
primary schools. Agreement has been reached on the
transfer of the first Catholic primary school in the State
to become multi-denominational. It was reportedly agreed for the
former Christian Brothers’ school on Basin Lane in Dublin to be
taken over by Educate Together, the national patron body for multi-de-
nominational education. Atheism Ireland
has also announced that it will develop
a course about atheism, to be piloted at
Educate Together primary schools.
Primary education has been rigidly
demarcated on religious lines. Out of
approximately , national schools
across the country, barely per cent,
only in total, are multi-denomina-
tional under the patronage of Educate
Together. The remainder are denom-
inational, largely (%) under the
patronage of the Catholic Church.
This means that many parents in
Ireland who have no religion, or to a
minority religion, are obliged to send
their children to schools in which
Catholic religious instruction is offered
during the school day, as part of the
school curriculum. This reality is in bleak
contrast to the aspirations expressed in
Article of the Constitution, which
provides that “The State shall not oblige
parents in violation of their conscience
and lawful preference to send their
children to schools established by the
State...”.
In , the Irish Human Rights
Commission, in a report on Religion and Education, recommended
that the state “should ensure that there is a diversity of provision of
school type within educational catchment areas throughout the State
which reflects the diversity of religious and non-religious convictions
represented in the State…. [to] ensure that the needs of faith (includ-
ing minority faith) or non-faith children in schools can be met”.
In , Minister Ruairi Quinn established a National Forum
on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector. In April
the forum recommended a number of measures to improve diver-
sity, notably the adoption of a transfer-of-patronage model. This
would allow, for example, schools currently under Catholic church
patronage to come under the patronage of Educate Together instead,
where parents in the local area so desired. Following the report, the
Minister established a series of surveys in different areas to identify
the wishes of parents for models of patronage. The findings of those
surveys, conducted in areas around the country, indicate clear
parental demand for diversity of patronage. The consultation proc-
ess announced this month by Minister Quinn represents a further
response to the National Forum’s work, and will feed into a planned
White Paper on education.
Local experience in my own Dublin south inner city area shows
just how slow the process of change can be, even where clear parental
demand exists. Until this year, only two multi-denominational schools
served the areas of Dublin , , , and . They simply could not
cope with the immense demand for places. This became painfully clear
for me back in , as a parent of a child due to start primary school
that September, when the combined waiting list of the two local multi-
denominational schools was approximately children.
The first official meeting of ‘Portobello Multi Denominational
School’ campaign took place in my kitchen in January . It was
clear from that first meeting that plenty of other parents were deeply
frustrated by the lack of multi-denominational school places. We
joined Educate Together, and ran a hugely active and intensive cam-
paign over several years at local and national level. Eventually in
September , the school opened as Portobello Educate Together
National School. We are currently located in temporary premises in
Harcourt Terrace, Dublin .
Our local campaign has been successful, but, in future, it should
not take so long for any parents seeking to vindicate their constitu-
tional right to have their child educated in a manner consistent with
their own conscience. The movement for change should not stop at
primary level. In , Educate Together will be opening their first
new secondary schools in Drogheda and West Dublin. A campaign is
already underway for a central Dublin secondary school. The land-
scape of education in Ireland is changing at last. That is a good thing
for all children and parents, irrespective of religious affiliation.
Ivana Bacik (Labour) is deputy leader of the Seanad and Reid Professor of
Law at Trinity College, Dublin
Together in diversity
Transfer of patronage
for primary schools is
slow, but recognises
wide-ranging religious
denominations.
By Senator Ivana
Bacik
The Irish
Human Rights
Commission
recommended
that the state
should ensure
provision of
schools which
reect the
needs of faith
(including
minority faith)
or non-faith
children
“
Educate
opening in
Dublin’s
Portobello
