The dominance of the Catholic Church in the primary school education system is “anything but healthy”, but to remove it entirely would lead to an “impoverishment” of pluralism in society, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has warned.

Dr Martin, speaking at the Diocesan Education Mass at Saint Patrick’s Campus, Dublin City University, on Tuesday, he told the assembled guests that a fair and balanced appraisal of the history of the Catholic Church should include “the story of great teachers who wished to share their own experience of Jesus, not as ideology, but as lived commitment to what is good and true and loving.”

He added that “removing the Catholic Church entirely from the realm of education would lead to an impoverishment of what pluralism means. Religion gives believers an integrated vision of life that today’s splintered society needs.”

He continued: “I am not saying that the current situation in which one Church dominates the patronage of such a large portion of Irish education should continue. . . Removing the church entirely from the world of education, however, can be in some cases the fruit of a deliberate misreading of Irish history.”