Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

A church. The next group will be the Presbyterian Church, which will be a separate meeting. The Methodist Church will be next followed by the Orthodox churches, which are being met as a group. I also meet the Islamic faiths as a group. As Deputy Ó Caoláin will be aware, there are different bodies but I try as much as possible to bring the Imams together for these purposes. We have most, although one group may not be represented.

That is the order and we take it as per the agenda with the relevant Ministers. For example, there have been communications with the Catholic church, Presbyterian church, Methodist church and, to a lesser extent, the Baptist church and they have their own structures built up over many years, but the others do not. There has never been much dialogue with the Humanist Association. I have visited the Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers, who have played a significant role in the State, but the Baha'i community is relatively new. We try to bring them together in a national body. While some have small memberships, their members and communities are active. I have spent a year trying to organise this and to move their agenda items into their communities.

Education is a big part of this issue. The Islamic faith is seeking to make arrangements with local authorities to build new mosques and get land. Some other churches are trying to seek limited assistance. On education, a number of things have happened. A new integration unit has recently been established around the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, in meeting communities and attending meetings with me to co-ordinate the work of the new communities. The new unit is important. There are new multi-faith community primary schools, of which we hope to have one up and running next year. Co-ordination is happening in respect of the schools in the four Dublin local authority areas and the surrounding areas of Meath, Louth, Kildare and Wicklow where a lot of the growth is happening.

There is a forum in the Department of Education and Science, but I do not deal with it and I am not totally familiar with its workings. It deals with trade unions and patron bodies. That is operating it. The conference of bishops at Maynooth recently stated the Catholic church's positive preference towards facilitating diversity and that they are open to change. Due to the growth in these schools and the population generally, many of these schools will have a large number of multinational, but also multi-faith, pupils. It is a challenge. Much good work is being done and many schools in Dublin West, the centre of the city and in other places have worked well. Good models are being built up. There has been a very large increase in the number of teachers. The number of language teachers has increased by 400% in the last few years, including 800 teachers this year.

Most of these issues are ongoing. I do not deal with the day-to-day educational details, but we are managing these issues. In so far as we possibly can, we must keep the new communities integrated in our schools. These schools will move to a new model and, in some cases, new patrons, which is probably inevitable because the churches, due to resources, will not be able to play their traditional parts. Like the Deputy, I agree with the enormous role they have played, but because of their numerical strength, they will not be able to play it. The Department is conscious of this, but the structure and patronage issues are being dealt with by the Department of Education and Science. Models are being rolled out, which is important. Educate Together and other bodies are being well facilitated by the Department of Education and Science.

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