Ireland’s two biggest organisations representing Muslims have said that that they “see no need for neither an ‘Upheaval’ nor a ‘Revolution’ in the Irish education system”, and that Catholic schools were “very accommodating” to Muslim students, the Irish Times reports.

In a statement, the Islamic Foundation of Ireland (IFI) and the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) singled out Catholic schools for praise, saying that “Catholic school managements have made wonderful efforts to make their schools as inclusive as possible without losing their own ethos.”

The organisations were responding to criticisms of the Irish education system when it came to accommodating the beliefs and practices of Muslim students expressed by Dr Ali Selim, who acts as a spokesperson for the ICCI, in his new book Islam and Education in Ireland.

Dr Selim called for sex-segregated PE facilities for Muslim students, criticised the Relationships and Sexuality Education programme, and raised questions over the kind of theatre and instruments involved in drama and music classes, respectively.

In their statement the IFI and ICCI who, as they put it, represented “ the official body for Islamic education in Ireland as recognised by the Department of Education”, said Dr Selim’s views were not theirs.

The IFI, “as the longest established Islamic body in Ireland (since 1959), and as patron of the Muslim national schools in Ireland since 1990”, could “confidently assert that such opinions are neither shared by the IFI, the ICCI nor the majority of participating members in the Islamic community here”.

The reality was that “whenever cultural/religious problems have been encountered in schools, these have always been resolved between the school’s principal/board of management and the parents to the satisfaction of all parties. The IFI, as patron, has enjoyed cordial cooperation and liaisons with other management bodies such as Educate Together, and the CPMSA (Catholic Primary School Management Association) to whom we are affiliated.”

The gropus also pointed out that “many Muslim children who have passed through Irish primary and secondary schools, through to colleges and universities all over Ireland have now become an integral part of Irish society without losing their cultural or religious identity. The majority would have passed through the predominantly Catholic schools throughout the country without any issues.”

They expressedtheir thanks “to all parties in the education sector, from primary schools up to the universities, and look forward to continued cooperation and mutual respect of their colleagues in the wider education forum.”

The ICCI and IFI did, however, share some of Dr Selim’s concerns around school admissions, saying, “We acknowledge that there is always pressure on schools and on parents of all denominations and no faith seeking places which sometimes results with many parents not receiving their first choice. Pressure for secondary school places is always a problem in large urban areas.”