An expert on education in Ireland has expressed his shock at a suggestion that Catholic schools face funding cuts if the handover of Catholic Church schools by the bishops to other patrons is not speeded up.

Reacting to recent comments around the rate of handover, Dr John Murray of the Mater Dei Institute, who is also Chair of the Board of The Iona Institute, warned that any cuts to capitation would negatively affect students. Specifically, Dr Murray was responding to the words of Prof. John Coolahan, chair of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism, who, speaking earlier this month, was critical both of the Catholic bishops’ role in handing over schools and of the lack of change to date, and said the Department of Education should consider cuts to school funding as a method of encouraging divestment.

“I was shocked and disappointed at Prof. Coolahan’s suggestion of a financial threat to schools,” Dr Murray told The Irish Catholic. “Schools are already facing increased financial pressures. Pupils will ultimately be the ones who suffer as a result of any further cuts.”

On Prof. Coolahan’s contention of sloth on the part of the bishops in facilitating change, Dr Murray said it was “unfair” to expect bishops to rush into divestment when there was clear opposition from among Catholic parents, whom the prelates ultimately serve in providing schools.

“What was originally presented by the Department as a high demand for change was not actually accurate,” Dr Murray pointed out. “A substantial number of parents, pupils and teachers are very happy with the current system and are reluctant to change. That is inevitably going to cause difficulty and slow the process down. It has nothing to do with opposition to change from the bishops as has been suggested.”

A Department of Education survey of parents in 43 areas covering about 200 schools found very little demand for non-Catholic schools in those areas.