The deadline for filling out Department of Education surveys being conducted in five areas to determine whether to transfer the patronage of primary schools from the Catholic Church to other patrons is midnight tonight.

But according to a report on RTE Radio News, many parents in those areas are not aware of the survey, and only a fraction of those who were aware had completed the survey.

The surveys are being conducted on a pilot basis in five separate areas; Arklow, Trim, Castlebar, Tramore, Whitehall in Dublin, with a view to determining demand for alternative school patrons.

However, according to RTE Education reporter Emma O’Kelly, there is a lack of awareness of the process.

She told New at One today that she said she spoke to 40 parents in Castlebar, but only about half of those had even heard about the survey.

Of those, only four had filled it out. The rest, she said “only had a vague intention of filling it out”.

She said parents were very loyal to there existing schools with only a “weak” appetite for change. There was “not really much of an appetite for change,” Ms O’Kelly reported.

One man she spoke to said that he’d heard about it on the paper “but that’s all I know about it. I went to a Catholic school and it didn’t do me any harm”.

Another parent said that she was “happy with what’s available in Castlebar”.

Many parents agreed that there should be change, but not in their school, Ms O’Kelly reported.

The survey process was announced last month, but the manner in which it was begun was criticised by the Catholic Church’s leading spokesperson on schools.

Chairperson of the Irish Catholic Schools Partnership Fr Michael Drumm has said that an online survey of parents might suffer from “mass non-participation” and therefore would not be properly representative.

Fr Drumm said that he would have preferred a paper based questionnaire sent to all parents and that it was now up to the Department of Education to prove that the online survey will be robust and transparent.

Fr Drumm said that “the real likelihood is of mass non-participation”.

He stressed that that this survey was not a plebiscite or a vote, but is instead a means of determining how many “real parents with real names, real addresses and real children” wanted additional forms of patronage.

“Let’s say 50 activist parents, perfectly understandably go online and they’re mainly active for a new type of school, for a VEC school or an Educate Together school or whatever it might be.

“So the outcome is that 50 parents all vote, all express that they want an additional form of patronage. That does not give us the result of a vote, this is not a plebiscite,” Fr Drumm said.

“What that tells us is that there are 50 people in this area who want this type of school, those who don’t participate, we would have to conclude are actually content with the present situation,” he added.

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn said some primary schools could be under new patronage by next September if enough parents demand it.