No Church representative asked to speak at Education Convention

29th September 2026

A meeting of the National Convention on Education that took place on Sunday featured no representative of any of the Irish churches on its panel or among its speakers despite them running the vast majority of primary schools in the country. There were present as delegates.

The Convention was established last year by the then Minister for Education, Helen McEntee. It is described as a once in a generation opportunity to “shape Ireland’s education system for decades to come”.

It has been taking place across four weekends in March, May, September, and November.

Last Sunday featured a panel discussion on School Values and Culture. The panellists were Kieran Golden, Former Principal of Mayfield Community School; Andrea Burke-Khan, Principal of Griffeen Valley Educate Together National School; Ebun Josef, Ireland’s Special Rapporteur on Racial Equality and Racism; and, David Joyce, Coordinator for Further and Higher Education at Pavee Point- Traveller and Roma Centre.

The session begun with videos from BelongTo, an LGBTQ+ youth organisation, and from the Traveller Community

Nienke Neeven, an advisor to the Dutch Minister of Education, spoke at a later session titled “An international perspective” with her views on “the curriculum of the future”.

The Iona Institute
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