Fewer than half the children entering Dublin's multi-denominational schools are being raised as Catholics, even though more than 80 per cent of their parents were brought up in that church, a survey has found. But most are raised with some religious dimension to their lives.
The survey, of nearly 200 pupils entering junior infants last September in nine Dublin multi-denominational schools, was carried out by Dr Jill Steer, former chairwoman of the sector's umbrella body, Educate Together, as part of a Trinity College Dublin postgraduate thesis.
She found only 44 per cent of the children were being brought up as Catholics, even though 8183 per cent of their parents had been raised as Catholics. Only 1 per cent were being brought up in the Church of Ireland, although 35 per cent of their parents had been raised in that church.
In contrast, 20.5 per cent were reared in some other "personal creed" or the decision was left to the child. Nearly 12 per cent were reared as atheists or agnostics.
Dr Steer told a weekend TCD conference on denominational education that the proportion of children being brought up with religion in their lives was higher than detractors of multi-denominational schools might think. She said those Catholic parents raising their children as Catholics were "actively opting" for Catholic religious instruction rather than doing it for passive social reasons.
Dr Steer said multi-denominational schools had pioneered many of the changes in Irish primary education in recent years, from child-centred education to democratic forms of management. Whether there would be a need for the future expansion of the sector would depend on "whether denominational schools recognise the changes occurring in Irish society and how they respond to the changing needs of Irish parents today".
The former secretary of the Church of Ireland Board of Education, Mr David Meredith, told the conference there was evidence from recent public debates that some people found many of denominational education's "necessary features" unpalatable.
"Amongst these are the denominational management control of denominational schools, discriminatory admissions policies and discriminatory teacher recruitment policies. These are features which the Protestant community would argue are necessary to ensure that Protestant schools retain the means required to fulfil successfully their task as transmitters of values, culture and ethos."
Mr Meredith said Irish society was not tolerant. "Although the strength of it is diminishing, the assumption still exists that to be Irish one must be white and Catholic. The Catholic Church is generally referred to as `the Church'."
Mr Meredith regretted there had not been time for "a more reflective debate" on the relationships between diversity, equality and pluralism. "Pluralism, surely, requires diversity to exist, and the imposition of a heavy-handed and simplistic notion of equality may actually have the effect of diminishing difference rather than tolerating and accommodating it."