Quinn deserves credit for establishing forum even if timeline was unrealistic

WHEN the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in primary schools was launched earlier this year, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn was ambitious – some might say unrealistic – about what it could achieve.

Before long, he promised, more than 1,500 schools could be transferred to different forms of patronage. In all, about 50 per cent of the 3,000 Catholic primary schools in the State would be divested.

Yesterday’s interim report suggests the process will be much more drawn out. Alive to the sensitivities of school communities, it backs a phased approach rather than a “big bang”.

In the first phase, the feasibility of divesting more than 250 schools – or less than 1 per cent of all primary schools – will be examined. Questionnaires will have to be distributed to parents and the results carefully assessed. The whole process in the first 47 areas will be difficult and lengthy.

That said, Quinn deserves credit for establishing the forum in the first instance. The idea had been long canvassed by the INTO but Quinn was the first to pick up the baton.

The forum – bringing together all the key education partners – makes good sense in a society where the Catholic Church is, by its own admission, over-represented in school management. The church controls 3,000 of the 3,200 primary schools in the State.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has noted that 90 per cent of all Dublin primary schools are under his patronage, while the percentage of the population which want a Catholic education could be as low as 50 per cent. It was these comments which opened the debate on patronage.

So how many schools will be transferred?

Fr Michael Drumm of the Catholic School Partnership says a transfer figure of 10 per cent is more realistic than the Minister’s 50 per cent target.

Everything will depend on the views of parents which will be canvassed in a questionnaire being prepared by the department and the education partners.

The department has some limited experience in testing local opinion. Last year, it held a poll in Gorey, Co Wexford, to assess the patron of choice for a new second- level school – the local VEC edged out Educate Together in that poll.

In her address yesterday, Brigid McManus, secretary general of the department, said it would seek to use the lessons learned there to minimise contention in communities while any surveys are under way. She added: “It will be essential that various partner bodies or other stakeholders ensure that this doesn’t happen by local actions.”

She also stressed how the department considered it important that “the arrangements for divesting are not drawn out and . . . essential that mechanisms be put in place which will facilitate a structured, speedy response by patrons to any need arising for divesting, initially in the 47 areas, and in other areas following this”.

Aside from these practical issues, there is also the sense that the Catholic Church has still to fully declare its hand in the new process. Dr Martin has been a key agent of change – but are other church leaders as enthusiastic?