Just 5% of Catholic primary schools in the Dublin area are over-enrolled, it has been revealed. This is far less than the figure of 20 percent which is often quoted.
Dublin archdiocese has the highest percentage of over-enrolled schools in the country.
Writing in The Irish Times newspaper, Bishop Brendan Kelly of Achonry, who is chairman of the Council for Education of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, became the latest prelate to defend Catholic schools.
The issue of Catholic primary schools giving priority to children who are baptized Catholics in the event of over-enrolment has become a political issue.
Referring to the low percentage of schools in Dublin – what he described as “17 bottlenecks” – where oversubscription had led to the schools enacting its admissions criteria, Bishop Kelly explained: “These schools publish an enrolment policy which must list the criteria used in determining school places,” Bishop Kelly explained. “These criteria usually include having siblings in the school or belonging to a specific geographic area.
“Some schools also use the criterion of belonging to a particular faith community, such as the Catholic Church. In general, baptism is not a requirement for entry to a Catholic school, but rather it is a criterion used when there are more applicants than places available.”
The answer to the current debate, Bishop Kelly stressed, was not to attack a school’s faith criteria, but to provide more school places.
“Those who are suggesting changes to admissions policies recommend that geographic proximity should be the main criterion in determining school entry,” the Bishop said, adding however: “The evidence from Englanddemonstrates that such an approach has many problems and challenges. When it comes to admissions to the small number of primary schools that are oversubscribed, the international experience demonstrates that there are no easy solutions.”
Pointing out that “the highest number of births in Ireland since independence was in the period 2008-2011”, creating the current pressure on schools, Bishop Kelly added that “the number of births has been falling year on year since 2011, which will decrease the future pressure on admissions to schools”.
