Tanaiste criticised over schools recognition

The establishment of an expert group to consider patronage applications for new secondary schools by Minister for Education and Tanaiste Mary Coughlan has been criticised by the Labour Party.

Ms Coughlan said a number of patron bodies were seeking to set up new schools and the Second-Level Patronage Advisory Group would assess applications against “clear criteria”. This would “increase the transparency of decision making”, she said.

Labour’s spokesman on education Ruairi Quinn claimed the creation of the expert group was “a symptom of procrastination, paralysis and political cowardice”.

Mr Quinn accused Ms Coughlan and her predecessors in the Department of Education of avoiding making a decision on whether or not to recognise the multi-denominational Educate Together organisation as a second-level patron.

“The VEC sector and the Roman Catholic Church are opposed to the development of multi-denominational education in our secondary schools. The Minister is too afraid to challenge these interests and alter the status quo,” he said.

“At present, the provision of multi-denominational education at secondary level is unavailable to parents. It is simply unacceptable for parents to be denied their constitutional right to educate their children in accordance with their preferred ethos.”

However, Ferdia Kelly, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body, the management body for voluntary secondary schools, said he welcomed the Tanaiste’s announcement.

“We welcome the setting up of a framework and we particularly welcome the fact there will be an open, transparent procedure for the selection of patrons for second-level schools,” Mr Kelly said.

He said more clarity would be required around the composition of the expert group and the criteria against which new second-level school applications would be assessed. The Irish Catholic’s deputy editor, Michael Kelly, also welcomed the announcement.

The expert group will begin work in the autumn. An increase of over 67,000 post-primary pupils in the State has been predicted by 2024. Ms Coughlan said predictions also showed the population increasing most quickly in the eastern area, where there was less likely to be spare classroom capacity.

“The need for clear criteria and increased transparency in decision making on the patronage in these cases arises as there are now a number of patron bodies seeking to establish new schools. It is also right that any prospective patron has clear criteria to consider in making an application,” she said.

“The new framework I am putting in place will address these issues and provide greater clarity into the future, allowing applications to be made where there is demographic need and establishing minimum sizes for such new schools.”

Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s spokesman on education Fergus O’Dowd accused the Government of “slashing” school budgets by €2 billion in the capital investment plan announced earlier this week.

“The Revised Capital Expenditure Programme, launched to much fanfare by the Government this week, has actually slashed schools budgets by 40% when compared to the National Development Plan (NDP). To add insult to injury, the Government have attempted to hide this cut,” Mr O’Dowd said.