Press release from The Iona Institute
April 7, 2026 – The results of the Department of Education survey on the future of primary schools in Ireland show surprisingly strong continuing support for denominational education, despite church attendance now being relatively low and the percentage of people who say they are Christians falling.
Although 40pc of parents who took part in the survey say they would prefer if their child attended a multi-denominational school, 60pc said they would like their school to remain denominational.
Commenting on the Department survey, David Quinn of The Iona Institute said: “Given how much the country has changed in the last few decades, it is actually surprising that a clear majority of parents still want their children to attend a denominational school. The 40pc who would prefer a multi-denominational education might even be an overestimate, because 60pc of parents did not take part in the survey. Those who want change might well be overrepresented among those who did so.”
He continued: “In practice, divestment of a given school will only take place with the say-so of local parents. All parents are then likely to want a say, and support for multi-denominational schools could turn out to be a lot lower than 40pc in reality”.
ENDS