Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

On 3 August 2010, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills published the outcome of work undertaken by her Department, at the request of the Catholic Church, to identify areas that may offer potential for the church to divest its patronage of certain primary schools. The possibility of the Catholic Church divesting itself of certain primary schools was raised by the church with her predecessor and discussed at a meeting in November 2009 with senior representatives of the church. At the request of those senior representatives, the Department undertook to identify possible areas where the demographics and existing school configuration was such that there might be potential for the Catholic Church to consider divesting patronage.

This report is now being considered by the Catholic Church authorities. They may now wish to identify some areas to trial the modalities by which the number of Catholic schools could be reduced, thus releasing some schools for other patrons. The decision on the identity of the particular Catholic school or schools to be trialed will ultimately rest with the local bishop, as patron, and the Catholic community in the parish or parishes concerned. It must also follow consultation with the parent body and staff of the schools.

Should the Catholic Church identify any such schools, there will be a need to put in place a range of processes, including appropriate consultation with staff, to address the implementation issues that might arise, such as ownership of buildings and transfer of staff. These will include the necessary arrangements to consult and decide on the future patronage of identified schools.

A meeting with representatives of the Catholic Church authorities is planned for today to explain the technicalities underpinning the information which was published. While the Department has had no further discussions to date on these matters, issues around the recognition of new primary schools are being considered by the Commission on School Accommodation Needs for which the Department provides the secretariat. Following consideration of a draft report from its technical working group at a meeting in June, the commission's chairperson, supported by a secretariat of staff from the Department, has had several bilateral meetings in August and September with groups which have nominated members to the commission.

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