Schools & Education

The rights of denominational schools in Irish and international law

Our latest briefing note illustrates that, contrary to what has been alleged, policies protecting the distinctive ethos of denominational schools are fully consistent with both Irish and international human rights law.

The Future of Catholic Primary Schools in a Pluralist Society-Fr Michael Drumm

Fr Michael Drumm defends the role of Catholic schools in a pluralist society in a talk given at the Iona Institute’s conference on denominational education “Denominational schools in a pluralist society”.

The Case for Catholic Schools

The Government’s Forum on the future of primary schools necessitates making the positive case for Catholic schools which we do in this briefing note.

Ireland, the United Nations and human rights

Ireland is to appear before the UN Human Rights Council to discuss our human rights record. But UN bodies often radically misinterpret their own treaties.

Speech of John Bruton in defence of religious education

This is the text of a speech given by John Bruton on 7th April in defence of religious education. It was given as part of a series of Lenten Lectures, hosted jointly by the Catholic, Church of Ireland and Presbyterian parishes of Booterstown, Dublin.

Religious Education and Human Rights submission

The Iona Institute has made a submission in response to the Irish Human Rights Commission Discussion Paper ‘Religion and Education: A Human Rights Perspective’. The IHRC paper argues that Ireland may be in breach of certain of our human rights obligations in respect of denominational schools. We argue that the paper proceeds from a flawed...

Only one in four want State-run schools.

A new poll conducted by RedC on behalf of The Iona Institute shows that only one in four people want all publicly-funded schools to be State-run. The rest want a choice of schools, including Church-run schools. The results are almost identical to another poll we commissioned last year.

The denominational schools debate.

The latest paper from The Iona Institute looks at the ongoing debate over the future of denominational schools and argues that parents have a right to send their children to publicly-funded denominational (or other) schools of their choice.

Denominational education and parental choice poll

A poll conducted by Red C on behalf of The Iona Institute highlights public attitudes to the issue of parental choice in education. It finds overwhelming public support for parental choice and strong support for denominational schools.