A law preventing Catholic schools from offering places to Catholic children ahead of others is thwarting the push for divestment, according to a leading Catholic education figure.

Writing in the Irish Times, Chief Executive of the Catholic Education Partnership, Alan Hynes, commented on the provision of Section 11 of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, the effect of which is that Catholic schools (alone among faith schools) may not prioritise admission for children from families committed to the ethos of the school. Only Catholic schools are targeted in this way by the law.

“This discriminatory provision has now become a block on divestment of Catholic schools to non-Catholic patronage,” he said.

The reason is that communities are unwilling to relinquish the Catholic ethos of their schools if their children won’t be given any priority admission to attend neighbouring Catholic schools.