The Catholic church has reached an agreement with the Department of Education which may give fresh impetus to the provision of greater choice in primary education provision for families.

The deal covers 5 towns, as well as the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, and states that the church’s “Council of Education and relevant Bishops have confirmed their willingness to engage and co-operate fully with the Department in seeking to facilitate a more diverse school patronage in these towns and areas”.

The towns are Arklow, Athlone, Dundalk, Nenagh and Youghal, all of which currently have no multi-denominational primary school provision.

The agreement also states that “no other area is precluded from investigating a change in patronage”.

A Department of Education spokesperson has said guidelines will issue shortly to schools who may be interested in divesting from Catholic to multi-denominational patronage.