Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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496. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the State has entered into agreements in which a bishop can choose a school's patron in a reconfigured school; and the role parental choice has in such arrangements. [14224/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware I recently announced that arrangements are being put in place in a number of towns and areas of cities that have no multi-denominational primary schools 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 is sufficient demand for this.

The Council for Education of the Irish Episcopal Conference (representing the Catholic patrons) and relevant Bishops have confirmed their willingness to engage and co-operate fully with the Department in seeking to facilitate a more diverse school patronage in these towns and cities. The pilot areas are:

As part of this process, the facilitator in each area, along with the relevant patron/patron representative will review data on the schools in the area and will engage directly with the relevant school authorities to progress the initiative at a local level. The process will be shaped by the stage (if any) of consideration of reconfiguration in the area concerned and whether any schools have already been identified or have opted-in at this point.

The voice of the parent and school community is important in the context of a decision to change to a multi-denominational ethos.

Government policy as set out in the Programme for Government is to:

- “Achieve the target of at least 400 multi-denominational primary schools by 2030, to improve parental choice”;

- “Expand and prioritise the transfer of viable schools to Community National Schools”;

- ”Work with communities to ensure the provision of clear, non-partisan information on the preparation for, and the consequences of, the divestment process and to respond to queries raised.”

Prospective patrons may include existing multi-denominational providers such as the Education and Training Boards, An Foras Pátrúnachta and Educate Together.