Madam, - Eoghan Ó Laoire (April 16th) argues that An Foras Pátrúnachta, the gaelscoil patron body of which he is a director, is a "forward-looking voluntary body providing real choice to parents".
The "real choice to parents" of Church of Ireland children in the An Foras-run interdenominational gaelscoil in Dunboyne is as follows. On those days when teachers are obliged to instruct the entire class to believe that the bread and wine of Holy Communion are in fact the real body and blood of Christ, Church of Ireland parents must either: (a) allow their children to remain in the class and be instructed so to believe; or (b) remove them from the class.
The Church of Ireland does not require its members to believe that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ, and the vast majority don't. Most C of I parents do not wish their children to be instructed so to believe. But for C of I children in an An Foras-run interdenominational school, the only alternative to being instructed in this belief is to leave the classroom.
It is worth noting that An Foras's practice in this regard is identical to that of Catholic schools (which of course do not purport to cater for two denominations in equal partnership).
It is also worth noting that none of the An Foras board's 12 members belongs to the Church of Ireland. Despite this, An Foras never sought the opinion of the C of I's education authorities at any time between undertaking the patronage of Ireland's first interdenominational school in 1996 and belatedly formalising its discriminatory religious instruction practice into a written policy in 2002.
Finally, it is worth noting that in 2001, at a time when the An Foras policy did not yet exist in writing, the entire Dunboyne gaelscoil - teachers, parents, and board of management - collectively agreed and respectfully proposed a compromise ensuring that no child would be instructed to believe any doctrine contradictory to their own faith. An Foras rejected the compromise and issued a directive to the school enforcing the status quo.
Half the C of I families in Dunboyne's interdenominational gaelscoil have since left the school. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL DUNGAN,
Parent, Gaelscoil
Thulach na nÓg,
Dunboyne,
Co Meath.