The Minister for Education Mary Coughlan said she hoped to see the Catholic Church divesting itself of some its 
schools on a trial basis.
Speaking yesterday in the Dáil, she pointed out that this option was originally suggested by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in the context of the overall number of primary schools in his Dublin archdiocese.
She added: “I am hopeful that the outcome of the discussions with the Catholic Church will lead to the trialling of divesting arrangements and we can then learn from this.
While Minister Coughlan agreed that such a move might not provide the full solution to the issue of school patronage, she thought that it might play a key role.
She added that the department, was looking at a number of initial locations to see what scope or options might exist for a change of patronage.
She said that urban areas where there were a number of Catholic schools and where the population was likely to be able to support a number of schools of diverse type would be the initial focus of the Department’s efforts in this regard.
However, Ms Coughlan said she wished to give an opportunity to the Catholic community to engage on the issue and to come back to her.
“I consider it is very important that this concept is tested to see if it will work, before dismissing it as not being able to work,” she added.
Ms Coughlan was speaking on the issue of diversification of primary school provision.
Fine Gael spokesman Brian Hayes said the public debate on ownership, control and patronage of schools had been waged on the airwaves and newspapers, but it had effectively taken three years for the Dáil to discuss it.
Mr Hayes added that “parents are the kings in Irish education” and that parental choice was a fundamental starting point of any debate over education.
He said: “The idea that the parent is the natural educator of their child is a fundamental constitutional prerequisite which we should all hold dear, and which remains within our Constitution.
“Any deviation from that view is false and wrong. If Catholic parents wish to send their children to Catholic schools, this State has an obligation and right to support that choice. If Protestant parents wish to send their children to Protestant schools, this State also has an obligation and a right to defend that.”
He pointed out that it was important to recognise “the extraordinary contribution made by the churches and by the Catholic Church in particular to Irish education over the years”.
“When this State had neither the will nor the finances to support Irish education, the Catholic Church was doing so free gratis,” Mr Hayes said.
He also acknowledged that “most of the heavy lifting in respect of welcoming newcomer children to Ireland has been done by Irish Catholic schools”.
This point had not been recognised in much of the commentary on this issue, he added.
He added the Minister should inquire as to how parents actually feel about the current system, and measure dissatisfaction. “While I am fascinated to read opinion polls in The Irish Times and to hear what the Iona Institute might tell me, the Department of Education and Skills should organise a simple survey of every parent in the country to ascertain their views on this issue to gauge how widespread is the dissatisfaction with the present set-up,” he suggested.
Labour’s Ruairi Quinn said that one-third of his Dublin South East constituents were “not Catholics”. He did not support the view, he added, that the phrases “non-Catholic”, “non-national” or “non-believer” were appropriate.
“We are all believers, everyone has a belief system,” he added.