Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

People in this country are increasingly becoming aware of issues of inequality in areas where the Catholic Church traditionally played a dominant role. Particular examples concern the marriage equality referendum, the children's rights referendum and, most recently, the national conversation starting on the eighth amendment. What people are trying to say is that we no longer want an unhealthy, unchecked relationship between church and State but, rather, a country in which the diversity of people of beliefs and faiths and none is fostered and equality between citizens is paramount. Somehow, however, the unchecked relationship between church and State schools remains strong in our education system, primarily because the Government seems intent on protecting its influence by failing to amend existing legislation, thereby preserving the baptism barrier and affording the church special protection when it comes to the role that religions play in our schools.

I want to use this opportunity to highlight a recent development that represents the extent of how unchecked religious influence truly is in our education system and why we need to address this. It has come to my attention that teachers in parts of the country are being inspected by lay personnel hired by dioceses to monitor the implementation of the Grow in Love programme, designed and supported by the Catholic Church. As the House may be aware, the programme is a new religious education programme for Catholic schools rolled out in September 2015 and which will expand to third and fourth classes this September and fifth and sixth classes in September of next year. Dioceses across Ireland developed the programme and currently support its rolling out, providing teachers with manuals, teaching kits, animated videos and online materials, all of a religious nature. This sphere of influence has been growing, however, and now involves the procuring of so-called diocesan directors and advisers hired by the church to support the work during religious education in Catholic primary schools. Primary schoolteachers across Ireland have been frequented by such diocesan advisers on the school grounds themselves during class hours, where they are monitored and evaluated on their teaching of the Grow in Love programme.

I have some very basic questions with regard to the visits of diocesan staff to school campuses in the presence of children during school hours. First, is the Minister aware this is going on? If so, does he know how frequent these visits are? Does he have a list of the people carrying out these inspections? What level of communication do diocesan advisers and directors have with the Department of Education and Skills, if any? Does the Minister have specific guidelines or a code of conduct for visitors on school grounds who are not employees of the Department of Education and Skills? More fundamentally, are the directors verified by the Department? Are parents made aware of the presence of these advisers visiting their child's school? If so, how? Let us be honest: if any of these visits are going unchecked by the Department, we need to have another conversation about the relationship between church and State. So long as religious influence goes unchecked in our schools, the problem of inequality in our education system will continue to grow.

See this speech in context