Archbishop Diarmuid Martin welcomes calls for action on school patronage

THE CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has welcomed the Minister for Education’s calls for the transfer of patronage of schools from the church to other patrons.

Ruairi Quinn announced a target of transferring patronage from more than 1,500 primary schools following the establishment of a Forum on Patronage and Pluralism. 

Church leaders welcomed the announcement, but argued that the start date of  next January was too ambitious. 

The transfer will represent a cut of 50 per cent in the number of Irish primary schools currently being run by the church.

Archbishop Martin, in a speech being given this evening to the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools in Wexford, has welcomed the Forum but has warned that it will not be an easy process, and one which “will encounter many forms of resistance”.

He also says that he wants those schools which remain under Catholic patronage to be truly Catholic schools. 

However the Archbishop says he does not want this to put restrictions on teachers:

It is not fair that teachers who have no commitment to the Catholic Church feel that they have to teach religious education in order to get a teaching position. This is why I believe that divesting Catholic patronage is not simply about swapping buildings. I would hope that the National Forum would also examine ways to facilitate – over time – a voluntary exchange of teachers who would prefer to teach in a school with a religious ethos or in one with a different ethos.  

A report in the Irish Times indicates that Dr Martin’s accommodating approach may not be echoed by other Church leaders. 

The Catholic Partnership is due to publish a position paper which is expected to differ from his views.

Meanwhile in an address to the annual conference of the Association of Management of Catholic Secondary Schools in Killarney, the Minister for Education warned that that says of petitioning for more resources for schools are over. 

He has expressed concern that the education sector has not fully grasped “the reality of our reliance on the EU/IMF funding”.

Ruairi Quinn is also warning of further reduction in teacher payroll costs in 2012, and increases in the classroom teacher allocation schedules.

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