The Minister for Education today said his department was examining a number of areas where the numbers of Catholic primary schools could be reduced to reflect declining demand for these schools.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association today, Batt O'Keeffe said it remained Government policy to continue to provide for a plurality of provision within the schools system.
But he said demographic changes in the State, combined with changed public attitudes to religion, "had yet to find full expression in terms of an appropriate diversification of school patronage".
It is broadly accepted that only about one-third of the country‘s Catholics regularly attend Mass but more than 90 per cent of primary schools are run by the church.
The Minister said his department is using data to identify urban areas where there are a number of Catholic schools and where the provision is exclusively Catholic or where there is very limited diversity of provision at present.
He said it was planned an initial list of 10 areas would be used to test ways in which the number of Catholic places and schools will be reduced and released for others.
"For example, where there are four or five schools in an area and all of them are Catholic schools, then even allowing for 80 per cent demand for Catholic provision then it is likely in that area that at least one of the five schools in that parish or part of a diocese will not be needed to meet Catholic needs," Mr O'Keeffe told the audience.
However, the Minister said decisions on how Catholic provision is reduced to meet the likely fall in demand for places in Catholic schools would be through consultation within the parish or diocese.
Noting the issues of school divestment had been raised by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Mr O'Keeffe said: "I do appreciate that the process of letting go a school that may have a long history and tradition in a locality may be painful for some. However . . . change will ultimately also bring about a consolidation and strengthening of the remaining Catholic provision matched to the demand for it."
"I do not believe we need any major discussion forum in relation to this likely change."
Mr O'Keeffe said trialling in urban areas was deliberate. "While over 90 per cent of existing primary school provision may be Catholic, the reality is that many of those schools are stand alone rural schools and therefore do not come under consideration."
The Minister also warned there is a danger that schools being kept in the Catholic faith would become elitist, and he suggested other possible reforms of the primary school network including ending the tradition of teaching principals.
His remarks come in the wake of his announcement last month that up to 52 schools out of more than 1,000 that have applied for building projects will receive funding to go to tender and construction this year.
The Government will spend €579 million on the school-building programme this year, creating 23,500 places in 20 new schools and 32 extensions, Mr O’Keeffe said.
Of these, 25 projects have planning permission and will move to tender and construction shortly. Twenty-seven have not yet secured planning permission but have been authorised to prepare tender documentation and will go to tender and construction either later this year or early next year.
None of the projects listed for construction had been previously announced, Mr O’Keeffe said at the time, although, but he conceded that some had been “on the books for quite a while”.
Additional reporting PA
