Pressure building toward progress [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 02 April 2011
Ruairí Quinn’s moves to transfer some Catholic schools to other patrons has been well received, writes Education Correspondent Niall Murray
THE targets may be ambitious but Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s signal soon after being appointed last month that he wants to see half the primary schools under Catholic control transferred to other patrons has been warmly greeted.
The Catholic bishops, who are patrons to 90% of the country’s 3,165 primary schools, have welcomed the Forum on Patronage and Plurality in Primary Schools and agreed to participate and some of the impetus has already come from within the hierarchy.
Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said that while the transfer of primary schools from the patronage of the Catholic hierarchy will face opposition, it is time for movement.
The brief set out by the minister requires the forum to have regard to the Catholic church’s expressed willingness to consider divesting patronage of primary schools.
