Just a quarter of people want all publicly funded schools to be run by the State, according to a new poll commissioned by the Iona Institute.
The survey, carried out by Red C, also found that three-quarters of those polled wanted to have a choice of publicly funded schools, including church-run schools.
The poll involved a random sample of 1,000 adults across the State being interviewed by phone between June 22nd and June 24th last.
It found that support for all publicly funded schools being run by the State is lowest among the under 35s, at just 21 per cent. Among voters, it was lowest among Fine Gael supporters, at 22 per cent.
The findings are almost identical to those of a poll conducted in March 2008 by Red C on behalf of the Iona Institute, indicating that publication of the Ryan Report hasn’t shifted public opinion on church involvement in education.
Iona Institute director David Quinn said the survey showed “very little support for the idea that the State should take over the running of all publicly funded schools”.
“The real question,” he said, wasn’t whether the church or the State should run schools, “but whether the State or some third party, in accordance with the wishes of parents, should do so. The third party could be one of the churches, or a non-denominational body”.
He continued: “It is now abundantly clear that people favour parents having a choice of schools for their children. The principle of parental choice is easily the most popular one in the debate about the future of our schools.
“Obviously the Churches will have to investigate whether they ought to be running as many schools as they are at present but there is no doubt that there is still broad support for the idea that parents have a right to send their children to publicly-funded, denominational schools.”
He concluded: “In Britain, a third of publicly-funded schools are Church-run, mainly by the Church of England, and Church-run schools are extremely successful and extremely popular.”