A secular education system would be “far from neutral”, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Paul Colton told the Annual Convention of Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools today. He said that he doubted that most parent would choose such a system.

Bishop Colton also called on called on the Government to ensure the future of Protestant schools. He drew attention to the last Government’s education cuts which hit Church of Ireland schools hard.

The meeting was also addressed by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin who said that Catholic schools must defend their ability “to maintain and foster and indeed strengthen its Catholic identity in a pluralist context”.

Addressing claims that secular schools would be value-neutral and therefore more welcoming to people of all faiths and none than denominational schools, Bishop Colton said there was a need “acknowledge that being humanist, being non-religious, being anti-religion, being secular are all, in themselves, an ethos, ones, which are far from neutral”.

And he added that such an education system would not be “practicable or attainable in Ireland”, because the demand for it did not exist.

Parents from minority Christian groups, therefore, deserved “the option of reasonable access to schools of their own ethos”.

Bishop Colton added that “diminishing the long-acknowledged rights of long-standing minorities” such as Church of Ireland parents, wasn’t an effective way of addressing the rights of new minorities. He also pointed out that, despite the fact that many Irish people had stopped practicing their religion still identified themselves as Catholic. The last Census showed that 94 per cent still identified themselves as such, he said.

And he said that it was important to be careful that Ireland didn’t take up an idea that other countries have become tired of”.

There were strong indications “that faith schools are enjoying something of a boom in other European countries, not least on our neighbouring island, in England and Wales”.

Bishop Colton also said that the Protestant community had “ immense anxiety” about proposed changes in education policy.

In particular, he said that proposals to force Protestant schools to employ non-Protestant teachers, to withdraw ancillary grants and increase the pupil-teacher ratio in Protestant voluntary second-level schools and to reduce capital funding to Protestant voluntary second-level schools placed a question “on the very existence of the provision of Protestant education in parts of Ireland”.

He said the Protestant community was looking to Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn “to offer us the assurance that the new Government is committed to enabling the Protestant minority to continue to play a full part in sustaining a mature and pluralist society in Ireland through our role in the provision of education”.

Bishop Colton said: “This is a matter of the utmost priority to the Church of Ireland and we are anxious to discuss with the new Minister, frankly, if and how he envisages Protestant schools playing a long term role in the future of Irish society.”

Bishop Colton then turned to the growing conflict between religious freedom and equality legislation. He referred to cases from the UK, such as the recent court decision forcing Christian owners of a Bed and Breakfast to put up homosexual couples and the closing down of Catholic adoption agencies because of their refusal to refer homosexuals as potential adoptive parents.

Such issues also arose in Ireland in the debate about school patronage, the religious ethos of schools, and issues relating to religious symbols in schools and healthcare facilities, he said.

In his address last night, Archbishop Martin said that Catholic schools must defend their ability “to maintain and foster and indeed strengthen its Catholic identity in a pluralist context”.

He said: “If the Catholic school waters down it Catholic identity then it is not going to bring its specific contribution to society.

“Diversity will not be achieved by uniformity. Catholic children should be able to flourish in their Catholic identity alongside others who have the same rights to their religious beliefs and identity.

“A pluralist society is not one where we all look alike, but one where we can be proud to live our different identity and respect the identity of others.”