Courtney McGrailDear Editor, Various organisations from time to time criticise the management and policies of Church schools, usually Catholic. In many instances they are correct but several things are overlooked not the least being the Constitution.
Article 44, for instance, provides that every religious denomination shall have the right to “maintain institutions for religious or charitable purposes”. In addition, the property of “…any educational institution shall not be diverted save for necessary works of public utility and on payment of compensation”.
Article 42 requires the State to provide for free primary education, which of course it has never done in full. In addition, any census will disclose that the majority of citizens are members of a Church and so as taxpayers will have paid considerable amounts to Church schools not least because of their right as “parents…in the matter of religious and moral formation”. It is therefore questionable whether the State or its (Church) taxpayers paid for the upkeep of our schools.
The simple answer then and depending on the available money is for the State to build its own schools In practice, the simple answer is the costliest.
Yours etc.,
Gerald Murphy,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.