Bishops refuse to bow out of patronages [thepost.ie]
- Published: 27 December 2009
The Catholic bishops have refused to supply the Department of Education with a list of schools where they are willing to give up patronage, suggesting instead that the department compile a list which they will then consider.
Talks between the department and the bishops on transferring the patronage of some primary schools out of Church hands will continue in the new year, but the department has no immediate plans for reform in the area.
A meeting took place in mid-November between education officials and representatives of the hierarchy but, contrary to the department’s expectations, the bishops did not produce a list of schools where they would be willing to give up patronage.
Full Story: www.thepost.ie
Religious influence in schools [IrishTimes]
- Published: 23 December 2009
Madam, – The pernicious influence of the Catholic Church in the Irish State is evidenced yet again by Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe’s statement that the removal of religious influences from schools is “not within my remit, nor indeed within my thought” (Home News, December 19th). If it is not within the Minister for Education’s “remit” then who is responsible? On the same day in your paper the chairman of the Bishops’ Commission on Education, Bishop Leo O’Reilly, states that “a [school] patron can only be recognised and registered as such by the Minister of Education”.
Appropriately enough for a religion and state embedded together neither the Minister nor the bishop is prepared to take responsibility for the fact that more than 95 per cent of national schools, all funded by the taxpayer, directly implement a Catholic ethos. There is very little room in Ireland for a non-Catholic child.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Schools Ask Parents to Make Charitable Contribution [fundingpoint.ie]
- Published: 22 December 2009
Primary school principals are urging parents not to buy gifts for teachers this Christmas. It has instead been suggested that parents who want to show their appreciation could make a donation to a children’s charity such as Barnardos or the ISPCC.
The Irish Primary Principals’ Network says the practice of buying expensive gifts for teachers, common during the boom years, was continuing, despite the economic downturn.
Full Story: www.fundingpoint.ie
What are school principals doing about child safety? [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 22 December 2009
ON December 18, the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN), following a survey of 630 primary schools, said that 80% of school principals have "deep-rooted concerns in relation to child protection in primary schools in Ireland".
This is an alarming, unacceptable and very dangerous situation. School principals themselves are the designated liaison persons for the implementation of child protection policies and procedures in schools. They also sit on boards of management with which they are obliged to raise all such concerns.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Child protection in primary schools [IrishTimes]
- Published: 22 December 2009
Madam, – Fr Patrick McCafferty (December 19th) is spot-on in challenging the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) in respect of its statements concerning child protection in Catholic national schools.
As a guardian of two children at Kilgobnet NS, I was so alarmed when IPPN’s broadcast its concerns that first thing on Friday morning I went into the children’s school and asked to see the relevant school policies. The policies immediately put my mind at rest in that it is the school principal, as designated liaison person, who plays the key part in alerting HSE and Garda of any child protection concerns.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
