The Government has pledged hundreds of multidenominational primary schools by 2030 by renting and transferring the patronage of religious-run schools to other bodies and by building new schools.

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy questioned if there would be any “clawback” for the State for these reconfigured schools given that religious-run schools are likely to have received extensive public investment over the years in the form of extensions or upkeep.

Hubert Loftus, assistant secretary at the Department of Education, said in reply that the “reconfiguration” approach will involve multidenominational patrons “becoming a tenant” in the religious patron’s school. He gave the example of a Catholic school changing its patronage to become an Educate Together or multidenominational community national school.

In such a case, he said, the Catholic patron would retain ownership and be paid rent which would be decided on a case-by-case basis given the level of State investment in the building. In the past, Mr Loftus said, similar rental arrangements had been in the order of 10 per cent of local market rents. The schools are almost always built on parish land and were frequently built at the expense of parishioners if they are old enough. Local Catholics often contribute to the upkeep of the schools as well.