Campaign groups have criticised the spending of almost €10 million of taxpayers’ money on hiring Catholic and Church of Ireland chaplains for State-run multidenominational secondary schools.

Atheist Ireland says this funding is not being spent in a transparent manner and discriminates against secular and minority faith parents.

The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee is currently investigating the public funding of chaplains in third-level institutions. Atheist Ireland has formally requested that the committee extend its investigation to include the appointment of chaplains to secondary schools.

The appointment of chaplains to ETB schools flows from legally binding agreements with the churches dating back to the 1970s.

These agreements oblige about a quarter of the 270 ETB-run secondary schools to maintain a Catholic ethos and provide students with two hours of religious instruction.