There was tension yesterday between the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and the Irish Bishops' Conference after the latter accused the teaching union of diluting the ethos of its schools by "specifically targeting holy days as in-service training days."
This followed revelations yesterday that a unit within the Department of Education and Science had arranged in-service training days on October 22nd and November 1st.
The days fall immediately before and after the week-long mid-term break, dates when in-service training is prohibited under the agreed school year.
Catholic bishops instructed teachers not to attend training on the November 1st holy day and told their schools to close.
When the Department became aware that some in-service seminars had been arranged for these dates, it instructed that they be rescheduled for a later date.
But it also decided to let about 20 schools go ahead as planned, as arrangements were at too advanced a stage for dates to be rescheduled.
As tension heightened be- tween both groups yesterday, the bishops said they accepted the decision to designate November 1st as an in-service training day was an "oversight" by an officer at the Department of Education.
"However, we note that the INTO did not raise this issue during the negotiation of the standardised school year and we are concerned that the union seems to be specifically targeting holy days as in-service training days," it said.
They continued to say that "as patrons of Catholic schools, we are committed to preserving and fostering the ethos of our schools and cannot accept this attempt to dilute our ethos".
But the INTO's general secretary, Mr John Carr, said the bishops' accusations were "unfair and insulting to the thousands of teachers who every day teach religion and prepare children for sacraments." Schools all over the country had received mixed messages from different Catholic bishops on the November date, he said.
"The INTO strongly refutes the allegation made by the Catholic bishops that the union is specifically targeting holy days as in-service training days. The union simply brought the concerns of its members to the bishops' attention and sought to solve a problem," he stated.
"It is unfortunate that the bishops have decided to adopt such a hardline position in relation to what should have been a relatively minor matter. A little flexibility would have gained a lot of good will."
Earlier, the Minister for Education and Science, Ms Hanafin, said her Department estimated that 95 per cent of the 3,000 primary schools in the country would be complying with the agreed school year.
The INTO confirmed, however, that while this was correct, there could be "dozens" of other schools engaged in school planning days relating to the new curricula in music and physical education on the dates in question. These would generally take place without notifying the Department.