Educate Together Slams Bruton’s Catholic School Plan As “Unfair And Unworkable”

Educate Together have slammed Education Minister Richard Bruton’s plan to divest over 150 primary schools to multi-denominational or non-denominational patron bodies, calling the process "unfair and unworkable" in its current form. Educate Together are proposing an alternative plan that they say will "put parental wishes where they should be - at the centre of the process." The group are challenging the Minister's proposed plan on the grounds that Community National Schools are the preferred model of both the Catholic Church and the Education Minister. The church has previously indicated that it favours divesting to this model, as Community National Schools schools will continue to prepare pupils for sacraments during the school day. Minister Richard Bruton TD also recently endorsed the school model, stating that,

"the philosophy of the Community National School as a multi-denominational school is based on international best practice in this area."

Educate Together has proposed an alternative plan for the Irish education system, involving the State contacting parents of all three-year-old children and seeking their first second and third preference for primary school. They say that this could be achieved by a confidential online process aligned with child benefit data,

"The State would then know the true profile of parental demand for schools of different types and could allocate places and resources accordingly. Until such a system is in place, solutions to the long-standing human rights deficits in the structure of the Irish education system will not be achievable."

The network of schools, which have been established for over 35 years in Ireland, said the state agencies charged with running the selection process (the Education and Training Boards) have a vested direct interest in the process in that they they are patrons of Community National Schools and have clear and stated ambitions to grow that number. The organisation said that the wishes of parents must be central to any approach to addressing the need for change,

"In the interests of the many thousands of parents campaigning for alternatives to existing school provision, we are challenging the process as outlined by the Minister and demand a process that is transparent, fair and modelled to provide true equality."

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