Teaching children the sacraments takes up too much class time, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has said.

The Minister, while attending the annual conference of the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS) said he would prefer schools to spend time on reading and maths skills rather than preparing pupils for First Communion and Confirmation, according to an Irish Independent report.

He referred to a severe decline in performance by Irish 15-year-olds in the international OECD/PISA league table on literacy published last year, dropping from 5th to 17th place. Maths also dipped.

At present, pupils in primary school spend 30 minutes a day on religion, which in Catholic schools includes preparation for the sacraments.

Other schools, such as the multi-denominational Educate Together sector, also spend 30 minutes daily on ethical issues, but it does not include formal religious instruction.

The Minister said that teaching the sacraments took up a lot of time, and suggested that it might be done by parents or parish, perhaps within the school building but outside school teaching hours.

“Quite frankly, we have overloaded the curriculum,” Mr Quinn said.

However he said that no person should enter the world without clear knowledge and understanding of the history of religions.

Mr Quinn was speaking in the context of the forum he has set up to decide on the transfer of some of the 92pc of Catholic primary schools to other patron bodies.

Schools may be handed over to existing patron bodies, such as Educate Together, or, in some cases, new arrangements could be put in place.

The Catholic bishops state that any new arrangements must respect the rights of parents, in particular in relation to the religious instruction of children, within the curriculum.

Mr Quinn said he respected the autonomy of the different school patron bodies, and their commitment to education.

“This is a dialogue, but Ireland has changed”, he said.

The Minister’s statement comes after a request last year by the Humanist Association of Ireland to renege on a promise made to provide time during the school year for separate specific religious instruction for children of different faiths in five experimental, State-run primary schools.

Five new Community Schools were established in 2008 under a new model of patronage by former Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.

At the time, she promised that the schools would provide separate religious formation during the school day according to the wishes of parents.

However last year, the Humanist Association of Ireland asked her successor, Mary Coughlan, to move all specific faith formation and preparation for religious ceremonies such as Communion out of the school day and offer it, if parents wish it, after school.