Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 184: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if she will respond to an issue (details supplied). [25880/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998, the board of management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school and it is the board of management, not the patron, which is the employer of school staff including teaching staff.

Provision is made for the inclusion of religious education on the curriculum for primary schools. Thirty minutes of the standard school day of five hours and forty minutes is allocated for this purpose.

It is the case that the vast majority of primary schools are Catholic in ethos and accordingly preparation for catholic sacraments forms part of the religious education curricula in such schools. However, parents also have the right, if so desired, to ensure that their children do not receive religious instruction. In accordance with Section 30 of the Education Act (1998), no student can be required to attend instruction in any subject which is contrary to the conscience of the parent of the student.

The provisions regarding Religious Instruction in Primary Schools are also set out in rules 68 and 69 of the Rules for National schools. These rules state, inter alia, that: No pupil shall receive, or be present at, any religious instruction of which his parents or guardians disapprove. The periods of formal religious instruction shall be fixed so as to facilitate the withdrawal of pupils where above applies. Where such religious instruction as their parents or guardians approve is not provided in the school for any section of the pupils, such pupils must, should their parents or guardians so desire, be allowed to absent themselves from school, at reasonable times, for the purpose of receiving that instruction elsewhere.