Fine Gael ignores the real issue in education

“Mr Bruton and his Fine Gael colleagues seem determined to make a mountain out of a molehill”, writes Michael Kelly

When it comes to education policy, Fine Gael seems to have adopted the policy of diversion as the best form of defence.

In seeking to ban parish-owned schools from prioritising Catholic children when the school is over-subscribed, the party is caving in to a small vocal lobby which really aims to try and push religious faith from public view.

Education Minister Richard Bruton is conducting a short consultation process on the issue. At the heart of the matter, of course, is that schools are forced to turn some children away because Mr Bruton’s department has not provided enough school places – an issue that is only going to get worse as the school-going population increases.

Catholic schools have always been inclusive places and have served the needs of people of all religious creeds and none. Where Catholic schools are not over-subscribed, they will accept all children. Where the school has more applications than places, it is forced to choose. It seems reasonable that since the school was established to serve the needs of a particular denomination, where there is a shortage of places, children from that particular denomination would be prioritised.

In truth, only a handful of schools are over-subscribed – and these schools are largely concentrated in some Dublin suburbs and in towns and villages close to Dublin where people commute to the capital for work.

Undoubtedly, for the few people that are affected by over-subscription, it’s a disappointing scenario to have their children unable to find a place in the crowded local primary school. But, instead of a small, targeted approach to addressing a largely localised issue, Mr Bruton and his Fine Gael colleagues seem determined to make a mountain our of a molehill. There’s an old saying that when all you have is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail.

It’s telling that the advocates of change never mention the lack of school places in some areas that is at the heart of the problem. Actually trying to address what the real need is (greater resources) deflects from the wider campaign to weaken the rights of parents to choose a faith-based education for their children.

The Church has indicated that it is willing to participate in the consultation and is open to some shift in the current policy. But, the Catholic Church, as an extremely dominant player in education in Ireland also has a responsibility to advocate on behalf of Protestant schools and schools established by other religious traditions such as the Jewish and Islamic communities.

Bigger issue

As Seamus Mulconry, General Secretary of the Catholic Primary School Management Association (CPSMA) warns in this week’s paper: “this is a much bigger issue for our colleagues in the Church of Ireland and in the Reformed tradition, and I was really surprised at how blasé Equate were on this issue.” Non-Catholic faith schools are particularly vulnerable to their ethos being diluted by the very fact that they are minority communities and rely heavily on the sense of cohesion fostered by the schools.

Mr Mulconry warned that “everybody needs to be really careful that somebody who’s taking a pot-shot at Catholic schools doesn’t end up shooting the Protestants by mistake so they end up as collateral damage.”

Having spent decades reassuring a fearful Protestant minority, the Republic would certainly do an extreme disservice to pluralism if it was to unwittingly dismantle the last-remaining protections around faith-based schools.