Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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258. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will report on his meeting with the Irish Episcopal Conference on 22 July 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30607/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for a Partnership Government reflects the Government's objective of strengthening parental choice and further expanding diversity in our school system. The desire of parents for diversity in education is primarily being pursued by increasing the number of non-denominational and multi-denominational schools with a view to reaching 400 by 2030. In addition to the phased transfer of Catholic schools to new patrons already under way, this requires considering new ideas and new approaches to substantially accelerate the changes in school provision in order to achieve greater diversity. By developing new approaches I am convinced that we can significantly increase the number of non-denominational and multi-denominational schools. In this regard, after taking office and in the context of developing my Action Plan for Education 2016-2019, I held meetings with a broad range of stakeholders, including patron and management bodies, as did my officials, to discuss how best this can be achieved.

In this context, I met with a number of representatives of the Catholic Church, including representatives of the Irish Episcopal Conference, on 22 July last to discuss primary school reconfiguration and to outline that for the areas where there is currently no diversity of provision, I am working on advancing options to provide a great choice of patronage for parents in these areas. The Church representatives stated their desire to work with my Department to provide a greater choice for parents. The meeting was a useful one and I am continuing to progress options for reconfiguration as a priority.  I aim to be in a position to announce the new approaches within the timeframe indicated in the Action Plan for Education.