Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government’s objective is to have at least 400 multi-denominational schools in the primary system by 2030 to improve parental choice. I fully support this commitment and I am working with my Department and stakeholders in this respect. In recent years, there has been progress towards increasing the numbers of multi-denominational primary schools, with the vast majority of new primary schools established in the past decade having a multi-denominational ethos.

In March 2022, I announced that arrangements were being put in place in a number of towns and areas of cities that had no multi-denominational primary schools.

This process sought to identify potential schools and to engage with school authorities, school staff and the school communities with a view to agreeing on a transfer of patronage and change of ethos, where there was sufficient demand for this. The ongoing pilot includes 63 schools in the cities of Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick and the Arklow, Athlone, Dundalk and Youghal areas.

The schools reconfiguration for diversity process, supporting transfers of schools to multidenominational patrons in response to the wishes of local communities, has been developed in order to accelerate the delivery of multidenominational schools across the country. Where a school transfers from the patronage of one patron to another, the school remains open with the same roll number and operating from the same school property. All State-funded primary schools follow a common national curriculum and are subject to the same rules and regulations.

The Council for Education of the Irish Episcopal Conference and relevant bishops have confirmed their willingness to engage and co-operate fully with my Department in seeking to facilitate a more diverse school patronage in the towns and cities in the pilot. The Department has made available a number of independent facilitators, who are former senior inspectors, across the pilot areas, including Raheny, to work with the school patron and relevant school authorities at a local level. This work involves engagement with school authorities, school staff and parents with a view to agreeing on a transfer of patronage and change of ethos, where there is sufficient demand for this. This process is about providing information and engaging with, and seeking feedback from, the school community.

I have always been clear about the intention to examine anything learned from the pilot in order to inform future work. Over the next short while, my Department will pull together information on what worked well across the pilot and what could be done better. We will then work with all the relevant stakeholders to apply what has been learned to future phases of work.

In respect of engagement with the three schools in Raheny, the facilitator has completed their information meetings with the relevant boards of management, principals, staff and parents of pupils in each school. Before and after each engagement with a stakeholder, the facilitator and patron’s representative engaged to consider the views expressed and queries raised. The facilitator has submitted their preliminary report-----

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