Cathal Barry
‘Spin’ distracting from core education cuts
The Government has been accused of engaging in a ‘phoney’ war on Catholic schools in a bid to deflect attention away from cuts to education.
Critics see the Government’s constant insistence that the key issue facing education is the need for the Church to divest from local schools, as a distraction.
Despite huge Government resources being put in to the campaign for the Church to pull out of hundreds of Catholic primary schools, where votes have been taken locally only a small number of parents have supported the local school giving up its Catholic ethos.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has insisted that teachers and principals are “fed up” with the “phoney debate” on school patronage.
“It is a load of bluster and spin with no substance behind it yet it distracts from the core issues facing teachers,” he said.
Recognising that denominational schools cater in a “very harmonious and effective way” for pupils of many faiths and none, Mr Martin insisted that resources were a “major issue” for schools.
He cited the capitation grant, pupil-teacher ratio and a range of other supports that have been stripped from primary schools in recent times.
Deflect
Ferdia Kelly, General Secretary of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB) which supports voluntary secondary schools, said that the debate over school patronage “shouldn’t deflect from the realities of the losses” schools have experienced.
He said there is a need for greater diversity of patronage at primary level. However, Mr Kelly told The Irish Catholic there is a “need to get a balance on the diversity argument”.
“We can’t have it both ways. We all agree with emphasising the need for greater diversity but we must be realistic and recognise that the current crop of schools are being starved of resources and funding,” Mr Kelly said.
“We can’t have at every crossroads the length and breadthof the country a choice. It’s not practical. The reality is that we have a legacy of which we are proud, of schools that are mainly denominational at primary level.”
Fr Michael Drumm, Chairperson of the Catholic Schools Partnership, told this newspaper that Catholic schools “are very diverse and deal with the question of diversity socially and religiously in a very holistic way”. He said the debate on patronage was about “responding to parental demand for greater diversity within the system and the issue can be dealt with where there is measurable and verifiable parental demand for additional forms of patronage”.
The Church was the first to propose that it may be necessary to divest from some schools where there is no longer a sufficient demand for Catholic education. However, local referendums have found little support for widespread change. Former Education Minister Ruairi Quinn predicted in 2011 that approximately 50% of schools would have to change hands to cater for parental wishes. However, just a handful of schools have done as local votes have consistently shown a small demand for change.
