Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will move on because my time is limited. I was a primary school teacher 16 months ago and I taught in a school with a Catholic ethos. I had no problem with that. That was my job and I did it gladly every day. In one of the lessons we used to teach what the word "church" meant. It means people. When, therefore, the Religious Sisters of Charity, or any other church group, refers to church ownership, it is actually people ownership. I am sorry to digress slightly, but I love my history. Some of the most beautiful cathedrals and convents in Ireland were built when the Famine was at its height and when people did not have a crust to put on the table. They were still able, because of a deep religious faith, to cough up some money to build these beautiful buildings. The very sites these buildings are sitting on were developed, owned and built by people over many generations. That point needs to be reflected on as well. The best thing that the order could do would be to gift this land to the State or charge a very small transaction fee for it. That would be following the true spirit of Mother Mary Aikenhead.

In my last-----