Church-run schools, and more specifically Catholic-run schools, are under the spotlight again as a new school year approaches. There is criticism of the slowness of the bishops in handing over a set number of schools to other patron bodies such as Educate Together. However, as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has pointed out, when a particular school is designated for transfer, there is often a lot of local opposition.

Last week, David Quinn of The Iona Institute was on a variety of programmes discussing the future of denominational schools, including on RTE’s News at One where he debated the issue with Ruairi Quinn, and on TV3’s The Late Debate, where he discussed the issue with Paul Rowe of Educate Together, Kitty Holland of The Irish Times, and Cathal Barry of The Irish Catholic.

He also wrote about the matter in his Irish Independent column last Friday.

Dr John Murray, Chair of the Board of The Iona Institute, debated the topic on UTV Ireland.

The RTE debate is here, the TV3 item is here, and The Irish Independent column is here.

The UTV item is here.