Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said local resistance is one of the reasons why the hand-over of some Catholic schools to other patron bodies is so slow.
As the issue of Catholic Church patronage of schools comes once again under the media spotlight in the run-up to the new school term, Dr Martin stated: “Communities don’t want change, teachers don’t want change, and even in some cases local politicians, who belong to parties who are committed to divesting, create obstacles locally.”
According to The Irish Independent newspaper, Archbishop Martin, who is patron to 470 schools in his archdiocese, said that Catholic schools in Ireland are still viewed as offering the very best education and therefore “everybody wants to go there” leading to over-subscriptions and an inevitable lack of places in some areas.
However, Dr Martin insisted that blame for this lack of choice could not be laid at the Church’s door, and he pointed out that the project of divestment, launched in 2011 by then-Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, on foot of the forum on Patronage and Pluralism in Primary Schools, has been “too slow” as communities continue to reject the divestment process.
He added that the issue of places was one also affecting non-denominational Educate Together schools.On the question of Catholic schools prioritising Catholic applicants, following media reports of a child of non-Catholic parents missing out on a school place, Dr Martin defend a school’s right to do so: “In Catholic schools, they obviously prioritise people who are Catholic.”