Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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138. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide a detailed roadmap with interim targets for achieving the Government's target of 400 multi-denominational primary schools by 2030; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14161/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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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 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 last decade having a multi-denominational ethos. 

In March 2022, I 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 Schools Recon?guration for Diversity process, supporting transfers of schools to multi-denominational patrons in response to the wishes of local communities, has been developed in order to accelerate the delivery of multi-denominational 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 ongoing pilot process is engaging with 63 schools in the cities of Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick and the Arklow, Athlone, Dundalk and Youghal areas.  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 my Department in seeking to facilitate a more diverse school patronage in these towns and cities.

My Department has made available a number of independent facilitators, who are former senior inspectors, across the pilot areas 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. 

The pilot has already facilitated increased diversity with the announcement on 12 January that a Catholic school in Athlone – Cornamaddy National School, will be transferring patronage from its Catholic patron to Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board, becoming a multi-denominational community national school.

The engagement at local level across all pilot areas should be largely concluded in many of the areas by the end of Q1 2023 and this will help clarify the level of demand for reconfiguration in these areas. 

I have always been clear about the intention to examine any learnings from the pilot in order to inform future work. My Department is committed to pulling 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 this learning to future phases of work.

My goal remains to establish a strong process, that has the support of all patrons and local communities, and which will enable us to continue to increase the number of multi-denominational primary schools across the country.