The Department of Education has submitted a list of more than 40 areas around the country where it wants to transfer schools from Catholic patronage to other potential patrons.

The department has written to senior bishops stating why it might be appropriate for the church to cede control there, according to a report by the Irish Catholic.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and chair of the Bishops’ Commission for Education, Bishop Leo O’Reilly, were among those who received the letter.

The letter outlined areas “where the demographics and existing primary school configuration was such that there might be potential for the Church to consider divesting its school patronage”.

According to the Irish Catholic report, the Department of Education has not given the Church a timeframe for the completion of the takeover process and will leave it to Church authorities to select which schools within the areas would change hands.

While the Department would not reveal which areas were on the list, it is believed that most of the schools would be within the Dublin region, other schools in Athlone, Ballinasloe, Killarney and Tramore are also under consideration.

The Department said that it was up to the relevant Church authorities to consult with those in the relevant areas on the proposed changes.

Monsignor Jim Cassin, Secretary of the Bishops’ Commission for Education said that Church representatives had met with Department officials, but it was unclear what its final stance was.

He said that it wasn’t for the Church to hand over schools, since these were community resources adding that “there would have to be a lengthy and serious consultation with parents and parishs”.

“It will ultimately be up to communities to decide what they want to do,” Msgr Cassin said.

The Catholic Church is patron of 92pc of the State’s 3,200 primary schools. Archbishop Martin has previously said it was no longer tenable for the church to run them all.

The bishops put the onus on the department to identify areas where there might be a case for handing over a Catholic school to another patron, based on its detailed knowledge of schools and their communities.

But, ultimately, it will be up to the local bishop, school boards of management and parents to decide whether they want to change.

While the Catholic Church has expressed a willingness to roll back, other patron bodies, such as the non-denominational Educate Together and the Irish language Gaelscoileanna movement, are keen to increase their presence.

Meanwhile, Labour spokesman on education, Ruairi Quinn, has attacked the Minister for Education, Mary Coughlan, for “cowardice” for not making a decision on whether to recognise Educate Together as a second-level patron.

Ms Coughlan said a number of patron bodies were seeking to set up new schools and the Second-Level Patronage Advisory Group would assess applications against “clear criteria”.

This would “increase the transparency of decision-making”, she said.

But Mr Quinn, according to The Irish Times, said that the minister was “too afraid” to challenge the interests of the VEC sector and the Roman Catholic Church, who he accused of being opposed to the development of non-denominational education in our secondary schools.

“At present, the provision of multi-denominational education at secondary level is unavailable to parents. It is simply unacceptable for parents to be denied their constitutional right to educate their children in accordance with their preferred ethos.”

However, Ferdia Kelly, general secretary of the joint managerial body, the management body for voluntary secondary schools, said he welcomed Ms Coughlan’s announcement.

“We welcome the setting up of a framework and we particularly welcome the fact there will be an open, transparent procedure for the selection of patrons for second-level schools,” Mr Kelly said.