Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The position is that in the entire history of the State primary schools have been State aided as distinct from State run. The Catholic Church and other churches which have set up the vast majority of our primary schools continue to act as their patrons. Other patrons include those of Protestant, Jewish and Muslim faiths, and the patron bodies from Gaelscoileanna and Educate Together schools. That is the way our school system is set up.

The enactment of the Education Act ten years ago gave statutory expression to the status of the existing relationships between the Minister, the patron and board of management into primary legislation, and it is the school's management, rather than the Department, that recruits and employs teachers and other staff. That is the legal position and that is why the cases have been dealt with by the courts on that basis.

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