Sir, – Fr David Keating, the Waterford Institute of Technology chaplain, makes a good case for addressing the more holistic care needs of third-level students ("College chaplains are not religious operatives", Student Hub, May 17th). Most of us could agree wholeheartedly with this point.
However, he makes no case for why this need is in most cases outsourced exclusively to the two main churches in Ireland, at considerable cost to the colleges and the taxpayers, without a tendering process and without any opportunity for many more qualified candidates, including female and non-religious applicants.
That is the main issue with current college chaplains, and he completely ignored it. – Yours, etc,
ANDREW DOYLE,
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Bandon,
Co Cork.