Fianna Fail no longer favours denominational schools being allowed to admit children from their own faith community ahead of other 
children. In its submission to the Forum on the future patronage of primary schools it says that “all schools should be multi-faith in their enrolment policies.”
If denominational schools are forced to adopt a ‘multi-faith’ enrolment policy this could mean that in some instances Catholic or Church of Ireland schools would have to turn away Catholic or Church of Ireland children.
Furthermore, the party says it believes that “the objectives of multi-faith understanding and social harmony are best served by children of all faiths and none learning together.”
It favours the ‘community national school model’ that was piloted by the then Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, in 2007.
Five such schools currently exist. Unlike in Educate Together schools, children learn about their own religion in separate classes for three or four weeks each year in accordance with the wishes of their parents.
The Fianna Fail document expresses concern that as the Catholic Church divests itself of some of its schools, children will become more “segregated” along religious lines as Catholic children go exclusively to Catholic schools and non-Catholics to the non-Catholic schools.
However, it is by no means certain that this was happen. For example, in Adamstown on the outskirts of Dublin, an Educate Together school and a Catholic school exist side-by-side and many of the non-Catholic immigrant parents in the area still send their children to the Catholic school in preference to the Educate Together school.
However, in their submission, Fianna Fail says it “recognises and cherishes the contribution that the churches have made to Irish education”.
It also criticises Education Minister Ruairi Quinn for saying he would like half of Catholic schools to be given to other management bodies.
It believes if this happened with “indecent haste” there could be “disastrous consequences for the quality of education in our schools.”
