‘Religious ethos’ has no place in Irish schools according to a prominent Labour TD.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, vice-chair of the Oireachtas education committee, told The Irish Catholic that “religious ethos has no place in the educational system of a modern republic”.

His comments came as senior Church sources accused the Labour Party of ”bullying” Catholic schools by falsely accusing them of breaking the law over enrolment policies that admit Catholic children ahead of other children if the school is over-subscribed.

The accusation comes in a Labour Party document circulated to Catholic schools.

The document — known as the ‘Clontarf Report’ — insists that the schools are acting illegally when they give preference to Catholic children in the event of demand for places outstripping availability.

However, one senior Church source told The Irish Catholic: ”There isn’t anyone working in the legal profession who would take such a claim seriously. This is nothing more than bullying”.

”The Department [of Education and Skills] fully acknowledges that faith-based schools have a right to admit children of their own faith before those of others where the local faith-based school is over-subscribed,” the source said.

Deputy Ó Ríordáin, a former principal in a Catholic school, confirmed to The Irish Catholic that he is supportive of the ‘Clontarf’ document yet, while the document accuses Catholic schools of breaking the law, the deputy nonetheless calls for the existing law to be changed, saying: ”I would like to see the law amended so that faith-based schools would be unable to reserve places for children of a particular denomination where a school is over-subscribed.

”I see no reason for to give a faith-based school any protection” to ensure that it can fulfil its mission to provide a faith-based education in line with the denominational ethos of the school by way of an admissions policy, he said.

According to The Irish Catholic, Mr Ó Ríordáin’s trenchant views will surprise many coming just months after Education Minister and Mr Ó Ríordáin’s party colleague Ruairí Quinn told a conference in Dublin’s Mater Dei Institute that ”religious education will have an important place in the future of education in Ireland”.

Mr Quinn has also insisted that denominational schools will continue to be supported by the Government, apparently putting him at odds with Mr Ó Ríordáin.

A recent profile of Mr Ó Ríordáin by The Irish Times education editor Seán Flynn said the Dublin North Central deputy ”is viewed as a future education minister”.

It noted that he has been a ”major influence” on Minister Quinn.